Space

Globalstar Europe Satellite Services Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Globalstar Inc. and the leader in satellite messaging and emergency notification technologies, announced on 9 January 2020 that researchers from the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, The University of Amsterdam (UvA) and Utrecht University are using drifter buoys fitted with SPOT Trace satellite trackers to understand the dramatic increase of Sargassum seaweed across the North Atlantic.

Arianespace and the European Space Agency (ESA) have announced the signature of a launch services contract for the Euclid satellite - with the mission's timeframe for liftoff starting in mid-2022 from the Guiana Space Centre, Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana, South America.

The Nigerian Communicatons Commission (NCC) has released a list of 55 authorised space stations and the licensees allowed to provide satellite communications services across Nigerian sovereign territory, with the UK’s OneWeb being the only megaconstellation provider listed.

South Korean environmental monitoring and oceanographic satellite Chollian-2B is expected to be launched on board an Arianespace Ariane-5 satellite launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Centre on 18 February 2020, according to the South Korean Ministry of Science and Information Communication Technology.

Payload integration is underway for Arianespace’s first mission of 2020 – designated Flight VA251 – which will orbit satellites at the service of two long-time partners using an Ariane 5 launch vehicle.

Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces H.H. Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, said that that UAE, under the leadership of President H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, has become the center to reignite the Arab civilization, and an inspirational story for future generations, and a message of hope for the region and the world for a better future.

The lower house of the Kazakh parliament approved legislation in December 2019 that amends Kazakh-Russian space cooperation at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kyzylorda region of southwest Kazakhstan, as well as the return to Kazakhstan of four areas of land leased by Russia around the large launch complex.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is understood to be in separate talks with Kazakhstan regarding space cooperation, and South Korea regarding economic cooperation in satellite manufacturing and applications, according to Saudi and regional press reports.

Indonesia is understood to be in talks with Russia’s state space corporation, Roscosmos, about the possibility of Russia training and launching the Southeast Asian country’s first astronaut.

The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences and Technology at Sharjah University hosted a joint Emirati-Japanese workshop on planetary exploration, in cooperation with the UAE Space Agency, the Chiba Institute of Technology and CITJAMSS.