Space

South Korean President Moon Jae-in visited Turkmenistan last week as part of a tour of Central Asian republics, and pledged South Korean expertise in helping the country to develop its first remote sensing satellite.

Surrounded by air chiefs from 11 other nations, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein plunged deep into discussion 11 April 2019 about the changing nature of space.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, has launched the ‘Hope Generation’ initiative to help schools encourage students to study Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, STEM, fields and increase their curiosity about space science and exploration.

Italian New Space company Leaf Space, a specialist in ground station solutions for small satellite constellations operated by companies such as Switzerland's Astrocast and Australia's Fleet, is looking to triple the number of ground station locations it operates from four (in Europe) to twelve around the globe, and is about to undertake a capital raising campaign to do so.

On 19 April 2019, the U.S.–Japan Security Consultative Committee convened in Washington, DC, with the participation of Secretary of State Pompeo, Acting Secretary of Defense Shanahan, Minister for Foreign Affairs Kono, and Minister of Defense Iwaya.

ARIEL, a mission to make the first large-scale survey of exoplanet atmospheres, has launched a global competition series to find innovative solutions for the interpretation and analysis of exoplanet data.

Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala is set to create a start-up ecosystem in Abu Dhabi that will attract New Space and other emerging technology companies to the Gulf Arab state.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gave a remarkable “Kennedy” style speech on 26 March 2019 in Huntsville, Alabama, where he stated that the United States will put Americans on the Moon again - in as soon as five years. China demonstrated, with Chang'e 4, their capability to land on the far side of the Moon. Israeli NGO SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft, though ultimately unsuccessful in its soft landing, did reach the Moon’s surface on 11 April 2019. This has all happened without Europe. SpaceWatch.Global Chairman, Dr. John B. Sheldon, shares his thoughts on Europe's ability to carry out Moonshots in the 21st century.

The France-United Arab Emirates Strategic Dialogue convened for its 11th session in Paris on 16 April 2019.

"If at first you don’t succeed, you try again," said newly reelected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when the Beresheet (Hebrew for Genesis) lunar lander failed to make a soft landing on the Moon's surface on 11 April 2019.