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President Emmanuel Macron paid state visits to Ethiopia on 13 March 2019 and Kenya on 14 March 2019. Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) President Jean-Yves Le Gall was part of the delegation, reflecting the development of space cooperation between France and Africa supported by the agency, notably in the fields of applications and new technologies.

By Dr. Bleddyn Bowen SpaceWatch.Global is delighted to welcome Bleddyn Bowen as its latest columnist. Bleddyn will be contributing his column every quarter.

Viewers in the Republic of Benin are now receiving 15 new Free-to-Air (FTA) channels from satellite, thanks to a new agreement the Government of the Republic of Benin has signed with SES, the world’s leading satellite-based solutions provider.

In the presence of France’s Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves Le Drian, and South Africa’s Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu, Jean-Pascal Le Franc, Centre national d'etudes spatiales (CNES) Director of Planning, International Relations, and Quality, and Valanathan Munsami, CEO of the South African National Space Agency (SANSA), signed an agreement outlining future space cooperation between France and South Africa on 28 February 2019 in Pretoria.

A flourishing small satellites market is driving demand for new ways to access space. Recent industry feasibility studies backed by ESA for new microlauncher services, are creating new business opportunities.

Following the launch of the GRUS-1A microsatellite on 27 December 2018, Axelspace Corporation, has announced the details of the launch of two more satellites of the same type, GRUS-1B and GRUS-1C.

LeoSat Enterprises, which is launching a constellation of 108 low-earth-orbit communications satellites that will provide the fastest, most secure and widest coverage data network in the world, has entered into an agreement with SKYBAND, a member of the Inteltec Group and leading communications provider of satellite and networking solutions in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Toyota Motor Corporation (Toyota) announced their agreement on 12 March 2019 to consider the possibility of collaborating on international space exploration.

Audacy, a space communications service provider delivering real-time spacecraft connectivity, and ICEYE, an Earth observation company creating the world’s largest Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work together to explore enabling continuous satellite communications for ICEYE’s SAR satellite constellation via Audacy’s inter-satellite data relay network.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, a subsidiary of the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), has announced that its ground-breaking maritime satellite service, Thuraya VSAT+, is now commercially available from IEC Telecom.