Region

China successfully launched its Chang'e 4 lunar probe on Saturday, 8 December 2018, as part of its overall goal to establish itself as a global space power and spread its strategic influence throughout Eurasia.

Azerbaijan and Iran have concluded negotiations on space cooperation, to include the Iranian use of Azerbaijani communications satellites and the joint development of a remote sensing satellite, according Azerbaijani media reports.

The Board of Directors of Russia’s Glavkosmos have elected on 6 December 2018 Dmitry Loskutov to be the company’s new Director General.

Mankind has always been defined by our collective curiosity. We constantly push for greater things, expanding our knowledge and influence over the world around us.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has announced that it has signed two contracts with Korea, one with Aerospace Industries, LTD.

The Arctic Shipping Company has chosen Maritime Connect from Orange Business Services to keep its cargo ships connected to the network while at sea.

The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) awarded GeoNorth Information Systems (GNIS) a five-year, U.S.$15 million contract for persistent surveillance services of the Arctic region.

Arianespace has been chosen by the Slovenian Centre of Excellence for Space Sciences and Technologies (SPACE-SI) to launch the Next-Generation Earth Monitoring and Observation High-Definition (NEMO-HD) microsatellite on the Vega launch vehicle as part of the Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) Proof of Concept (POC) flight in 2019.

Fleet Space Technologies' second Centauri nanosatellite was successfully launched aboard SpaceX's Falcon 9 SSO-A mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base, in California.

British built VESTA telecommunications satellite will improve safety and security for commercial shipping.