Space

The United Arab Emirates has progressed to the last 39 Emirati men and women who are in line to be selected as the nation’s first astronauts, one of whom will be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) from Russia next year.

Just recently, from May 30-31st, SpaceWatch Global’s Torsten Kriening attended a fascinating event in a fascinating part of the world – Finland. Helsinki is home to media, events, PR and consulting company, ArcticStartup, the brains behind Arctic15.

In order to accelerate its priorities, the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency of Thailand (GISTDA) has selected Airbus as partner for its next-generation national geo-information system.

Israel’s Spacecom has again extended the time period it needs to raise funds for its initial deposit for U.S. Satellite manufacturer SpaceSystems/Loral (SSL) to build its AMOS-8 satellite, but the process – and payment -- has been mired in delays.

A so-called “self-eating” rocket engine is being developed by the universities of Scotland and Ukraine. It will be capable of putting small satellites into orbit at competitive price.

The first six communication and remote sensing satellites to be put in space under the Sfera program mentioned by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his question-and-answer session on June 7, 2018 will be put in space three years from now, Andrei Tuylin, Director General of the Russian Space Systems OJSC (affiliated with Roscosmos), told TASS.

Filipino company Bambu Wireless will use the Eutelsat-172 Satellite to provide broadband, maritime, and government connectivity services throughout the Philippines.

An agreement has been reached for the launch of a common satellite that will serve the East African region and enhance coverage. The decision was made during the 14th Summit of the Heads of State of the Northern Corridor.

Federal State Unitary Enterprise Experimental Design Bureau FAKEL (hereafter referred to as EDB Fakel) is one of the leading companies in Russia and in the world, having a 55-year experience in development of Electric Propulsion Systems (EPS), and more than a 40-year flight experience in Electric Propulsion Subsystems based on Stationary Plasma Thrusters (SPT), which were successfully used for station-keeping purposes aboard such spacecraft as Meteor and Meteor-Priroda in the 70s, and which have been used aboard spacecraft (S/C) of the Kosmos and Luch family since 1982, as well as aboard Gals and Express since 1994.

Taking the best of both company offerings, Planet and Airbus have signed an agreement to jointly develop a new range of satellite imagery products.