Space

Japanese company Canon Electronics has outlined its plan to become a turnkey space venture that builds and launches rockets from its own space launch site, and building and operating its own Earth observation satellites and selling the satellite imagery on the open market.

The UK space sector is on the cusp of entering a new and golden age. As a country, the UK already has a thriving space sector with leading companies that have pioneered the small satellite industry, for example.

Olga Nikolaevna Gershenzon is the deputy director general of the engineering company LoReTT, as well as a co-founder of the SCANEX holding. She has more than 25 years of experience in the field of practical application of remote sensing in various branches of economy.

Japan is considering building a constellation of microsatellites for maritime domain awareness (MDA) operations over the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Sea of Japan to monitor Chinese maritime and naval activities, especially around the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands.

China's Hainan Earth observation satellite constellation that is designed to "reinforce national sovereignty" over the South China Sea and other disputed territories is set to start launching its first satellites in 2019, according to Chinese state media reports.

Pakistan has taken over control of its Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS)-1 and the PakTES-1A experimental satellite from Chinese operators just over a month after the two satellites were launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China.

According to Alexander Medvedev, the chief designer of launch vehicles, deputy general director of the TsNIIMash rocket and spacecraft scientific center, and one of the ideologists of the Angara rocket, the Angara-A5B heavy-lift launch vehicle can be modified to be reusable, with landings performed using landing legs similar to those of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket’s reusable first stage.

The Chinese government has provided Egypt with a U.S.$45 million grant for the completion of the EgyptSat-2 Earth observation satellite.

Indian Prime Minster Narendra Modi announced on 15 August 2018 – India's Independence Day - that India will launch its first manned space mission by 2022. The announcement was made by Modi in what is his last Independence Day speech ahead of the general election to be held in early 2019.

Singapore’s AddValue Technologies has signed an agreement with New Space Earth observation satellite company Open Cosmos for the provision of AddValue’s Inter-Satellite Data Relay System (IDRS™) that will link the Open Cosmos constellation in orbit in real time.