Space

The Japanese government has issued the 2018 policy guidelines for national defence that emphasises the growing threats emanating from China, North Korea, and Russia in the cyberspace and space domains. On military space developments, the policy guidelines – released in Tokyo on 28 August 2018 – state that, “[M]ajor countries …

Now that the euphoria over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that India will launch its first Vyomanaut (derived from the Sanskrit word for space, or vyoma) into Earth orbit by 2022 has passed, the political contours of the announcement are beginning to take shape. A number of critics are pointing …

New Zealand has become a strategic partner of U.S. space-based geolocation company HawkEye 360, enabling the country to access the company’s geoanalytical capabilities for maritime domain awareness, border security, and asset protection. Eagle Technology, a New Zealand-based company, will be the strategic partner for New Zealand, bringing HawkEye 360’s radio …

Egypt is making preparations to receive its sixth satellite, MisrSat-2, that has been built using a grant from China and will be shipped to Egypt in October 2019. Dr. Medhat Mokhtar, Chairman of the National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences (NARSSS), said that the Chinese grant for the …

Following the landmark space cooperation agreement signed between India and France, both countries will start work on building joint maritime surveillance satellites in 2019, according to an official from the French national space agency, the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES). The satellites will be designed to cover areas ranging from …

According to the International Space Station Flight Schedule published by NASA, U.S. astronauts will no longer be launched on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft in the fall of 2019. Instead of the Soyuz spacecraft, SpaceX and Boeing spacecraft are to be used. Their first crewed flights are scheduled for next year. …

The French national space agency, the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), signed a cooperation agreement with the Hellenic Space Agency (HAS), the national space agency of Greece, that covers scientific exchanges and national and international space collaboration. The agreement, signed 2 August 2018 in Athens, focuses on collaboration in space …

The recent pronouncement by President Donald Trump that called for the creation of a separate U.S. Space Force has been met with some consternation by a number of commentators around the world. This reaction seems more concerned with the controversial persona of President Trump rather than with the policy substance …

African telecommunications company Liquid Telecom has made a U.S.$8 million bid to acquire Israeli company Satcom Systems Ltd., a subsidiary of the troubled Eurocom Group, and a sister company of Spacecom, the Israeli satellite communications company that operates the AMOS fleet. According to a report published on Calcalistech.com, the bid …

Luxembourg-Australian-based company, Kleos Space S.A., has successfully closed an AUS$11 million (U.S.$8 million) funding round and will begin trading on the Australian Stock Exchange on Friday, 24 August 2018, at 11:00 a.m. Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Kleos Space, Andy Bowyer, believes that the interest shown in Kleos Space …