Space

The Egyptian government, under the leadership of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has agreed upon draft legislation that will eventually create a national space agency for the belaboured country. The announcement was made on 3 August 2016, and aims to harness space technologies for the purposes of economic development and for …

On 29/30 July 2016, SpaceWatch Middle East accompanied PTScientists in the desert of Qatar to test their Audi Lunar Quattro rover that they hope to send to the Moon by the end of 2017 to win the Google Lunar X-Prize. SpaceWatch Middle East COO Torsten Kriening spoke with PTScientists CEO …

Iranian and Azerbaijani officials signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for space cooperation between the two countries, days before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani visits the Azerbaijani capital, Baku, on 8 August 2016. Iranian Minister for Communication and Information Technology Mahmoud Vaezi and Azerbaijani Minister Communications and High Technologies Ramin Namigoglu …

Iranian press reports claim that Iranian industry and as yet unnamed Russian satellite manufacturers are to jointly build a National Remote Sensing Satellite for Iran. Mahmoud Vaezi, Iran’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology, recently completed an official visit to Moscow where he met with several Russian government officials and …

The Moscow, Russia, headquartered Rocket and Space Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) revealed on 28 July 2016 that it has signed a deal worth U.S.$100 million to help build the Egyptsat-A, the replacement for Egyptsat-2 that in April 2015 failed in orbit after only a year after its launch. Egyptsat-A is …

Are Middle East governments ready to counter a resurgent Iran in space? American space law expert and policy consultant, Michael J. Listner, makes the case for more countries in the region to develop comprehensive national space policies so that their defence establishments can adequately prepare defensive measures in the space domain. …

The UAE Space Agency announced on 28 July 2016 that it is sponsoring a group of UAE students to attend the Senior Space School UK program, run by the physics department at the University of Leicester. The Space Agency’s participation in the program, which is to be held between 30 …

Doha, July 27, 2016: The PT Scientists are aiming high – they are shooting for the Moon. By the end of 2017, a group of 30 scientists and engineers wants to send an unmanned rover to the Moon as part of the Google Lunar X-Prize (GLXP) competition which was proclaimed …

The Kuwaiti cabinet, the Council of Ministers, is considering the acquisition and launch of a satellite, according to local reports in Kuwait City. Draft legislation has been submitted to the cabinet from the Communications and Information Technology Commission. The reports say that the cabinet has formed a committee to examine …

The geostationary Earth orbit (GEO) satellite belt is a unique location above the earth affording a continuous line-of-sight to satellite uplink and downlink stations. The volume defined by this belt is large, but available slots are limited. During the last fifty years of the space age, this volume has become …