Space

Newtec – the Belgian company specialising in designing, developing, and manufacturing equipment and technologies for satellite communications – and Arab Satellite Communications (Arabsat) have signed a new multi-million Euro contract, expanding their long-term partnership.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, the President of the French national space agency the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), has revealed details about the proposed Franco-Indian satellite-based maritime surveillance constellation that will provide Paris and New Delhi with maritime domain awareness (MDA) data across the Indian Ocean.

Singapore's satellite broadband company Kacific has selected Kratos to design and build ground stations for the KACIFIC-1 Ka-band High Throughput Satellite (HTS) that will be launched in 2019.

Japanese New Space company PD Aerospace intends to develop a space plane capable of carrying passengers by 2023, making it the latest of a growing number of companies in the Asia-Pacific region seeking to enter the small satellite and space tourism market over the coming years.

The satellite industry has long been renowned for its unique ability to deliver connectivity to remote regions of the world, making communications accessible where they previously weren’t available. However, there is a technology that is being trialled by some of the world’s biggest tech companies that promises to enable telecommunications networks with a re-usable platform that can form telecommunications networks where there is little or no access. That is the High Altitude Platform.

The Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA) officially launched operations on 12 September 2018 with the goal of promoting the further economic development of the Grand Duchy’s space industry by attracting businesses, developing human resources, providing innovative financial solutions, and supporting educational and research infrastructure.

The Indian government cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been briefed about a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between India and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam covering space cooperation and the establishment of a telemetry, tracking, and command (TT&C) station in the Southeast Asian country for orbiting satellites and launch vehicles.

The UAE’s Yahsat is creating a joint venture with U.S. company Hughes Network Systems to provide commercial Ka-band satellite broadband services across Africa, the Middle East, and Southwest Asia.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has signed a cooperation agreement with New Space satellite servicing company Effective Space where IAI will be the prime contractor for Effective Space’s SPACE DRONETM capability in return for IAI securing equity investment for Effective Space.

Chinese New Space satellite launch company ExPace has delivered its second Kuaizhou-1A launch vehicle to the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in preparation for lift-off sometime in September 2018.