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How do we kickstart a space-based economy that includes everything from communications, orbiting satellites, clean energy, and asteroid mining? Here, planetary scientist Philip Metzger of the University of Central Florida lays out a proposed roadmap to get there. This essay was originally published by Aeon on January 9, 2018, and is …

Quika Ltd. has launched the world’s first entirely free high-speed satellite internet for developing countries. According to a Quika press release, the new service is being provided to “address a leading cause of economic and social inequality.” Quika aims to close what it sees as an investment gap in areas …

Talia Limited and Arabsat are continuing their partnership by announcing Talia’s lease of multiple transponders on the Ka-band Arabsat-5C High Throughput Satellite (HTS), located at 20 degrees East. The multi-year agreement will offer high-quality Internet Protocol (IP) Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services in Iraq, Kurdistan, and Afghanistan that utilise …

The Chinese launch of what many believe to be a military reconnaissance satellite, the Ludikancha Weixing-3 (LKW-3) – or Land Surveying Satellite 3, on January 13, 2018, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre (JSLC) may have also included the SaudiSat-5B Earth observation satellite, according to a report in SpaceFlight Insider. …

Arabsat and German communications solutions provider CETel are partnering to provide business continuity services across the Middle East and North Africa. CETel specialises in end-to-end communications solutions, with an emphasis on fiber-optic cabling. Both companies indicated that emerging Big Data requirements of clients, arising from the growing Internet of Things …

Xiaoru Cai, the Chairman of China’s Tatwah Smartech Co. Ltd., took part in a ceremony on January 15, 2018, in Colombo, Sri Lanka, announcing a U.S.$30 million investment in SupremeSAT, the only Sri Lankan satellite communications company. The investment is intended to help SupremeSAT expand its geographical reach with its …

An Israeli-U.S. industrial research and development foundation, the Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation, has announced its selection of Israeli industrial projects in which it shall invest in 2018. At a meeting of the BIRD Board of Directors held in Tel Aviv, Israel, in December 2017, U.S.$7.75 million was …

Cambodia has signed a framework agreement with China Great Wall Industry Corporation for the acquisition of a communications satellite, along with its associated ground infrastructure and launch. The satellite agreement was one of nineteen agreements made between Cambodian and Chinese officials during a bilateral trade meeting on January 11, 2018, …

Arabsat has announced that Dubai-based Al Aan TV will be broadcast in High Definition (HD) on Arabsat’s BADR-4 satellite, allowing the channel to be beamed into millions of homes in Europe, North Africa, Middle East, and Central Asia. Al Aan TV broadcasts a mix of entertainment and current events programming …

Since a very young age, Michaela Musilova dreamt of exploring space and eventually becoming an astrobiologist to find the answers to the ultimate question:  is there life out there? Today, as Chair of the Slovak Organisation for Space Activities, Musilova has tirelessly pursued her dream and, from the 8-year old …