Space

The United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) has signed a Declaration of Principles with Bahrain's National Space Science Agency (NSSA), and the UAE’s Khalifa University (KU), for the training of the Bahrain Space Team.

Eutelsat has ordered two new satellites from Airbus Defence and Space to replace the three existing HOTBIRD satellites at its 13° East flagship neighbourhood. These all-electric high-power satellites are set to enter into service in 2022, serving Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa.

It has been a busy few weeks in the Middle Eastern satellite and space sector, with developments and activities taking place from Morocco to Iran, and all points in between. The following is a roundup of the regional space and satellite news that was not previously covered in-depth by SpaceWatch.MiddleEast.

Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) has announced it is investing AUS$35 million (U.S.$25.5 million) in space technology and Artificial Intelligence development.

The French national space agency, the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and CapDecisif Management, has created a venture fund called CosmiCapital to help create a European New Space ecosystem. The CosmiCapital fund, launched by the CNES in May 2018 and managed by …

What do astronauts, Pokemon, wildlife park rangers, and surgeons all have in common? The answer is virtual and augmented reality, or VR and AR. Usually associated with video games, this ultra-immersive technology is quickly being recognised for its real-world potential. VR is a computer-generated environment that simulates physical presence and …

Japanese company ANA Holdings, best known for operating All Nippon Airlines, and trading house Marubeni Corporation have partnered to build a spaceport in Japan as early as 2021, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review. The spaceport will be used for private space travel, such as space tourism, …

The Saint-Petersburg-based lab Astronomikon has grown out of a student nanosatellite project. We talked about the lab’s work on the commercial level.

The UAE Space Agency will continue selecting astronaut candidates in order to create a national astronaut cadre with the aim of sending Emiratis in to orbit annually, Dr. Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the Director General of the agency, said in an interview with Russian news outlet Sputnik.

SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite for Qatar’s Es’hailsat on Thursday, 15 November 2018, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States. Liftoff occurred at 3:46 p.m. EST, or 20:46 UTC, and the satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after launch.