Region

Japan is eyeing expanded space cooperation with Malaysia in a bid to deepen diplomatic and economic ties with the Southeast Asian country, and as part of an effort to balance against China's powerful influence through such programmes as its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in the region.

Thaicom Public Company Limited has reported progress in its ongoing efforts to migrate customers from Thaicom 5 after the satellite suffered a technical anomaly.

A delegation of German military leaders in air and space operations met with U.S. space leaders, as well as Space X, and visited U.S. space operators and facilities at Vandenberg AFB, California, to discuss current multinational operations and future bilateral cooperation on 5-6 February 2020.

The Indonesian government has appointed a consortium of local companies to operate a broadband telecommunication satellite that will provide comprehensive internet access across the vast archipelago.

Japan's Astroscale Holdings has been selected as the commercial partner for Phase I of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) first debris removal project, a groundbreaking step by Japan to commercialize space debris removal, the company announced 12 February 2020.

Firefly Aerospace, Inc. announced the execution of a Launch Services Agreement with SATLANTIS. Beginning in 2022, SATLANTIS will utilize the Firefly Alpha launch vehicle to deploy a constellation of satellites with breakthrough high-resolution multispectral cameras with four bands of 80 cm native resolution.

The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) launched the website for its Space4Women project on 11 February 2020. The website helps connect girls and women to career opportunities in the space sector and in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) more widely.

Astrobotic Technology Inc. has commended the president’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request for NASA, which grows funding for the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program within the Lunar Discovery and Exploration Program (LDEP).

After Solar Orbiter, ESA's next mission observing the Sun will not be one spacecraft but two: the double satellites making up Proba-3 will fly in formation to cast an artificial solar eclipse, opening up the clearest view yet of the Sun's faint atmosphere - probing the mysteries of its million degree heat and magnetic eruptions.

A unique, collaborative experiment being conducted by the UK's A unique, collaborative experiment being conducted by the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and representatives from the Five-Eyes nations (Dstl) and representatives from the Five-Eyes nations (UK, US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand) aims to make  improvements in Space Situational Awareness (SSA).