Earth observation

The UK's space sector has seen significant growth in income, exports and employment with total income now standing at 14.8 billion pounds (U.S.$19.2 billion), Science Minister Chris Skidmore has announced.

The Canadian Department of National Defence has awarded a C$15 million (U.S.$11.43 million) contract to Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) at the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS) for development of multipurpose microsatellites to support Arctic surveillance. Upon successful completion and testing of the prototype, two additional microsatellites will be built to create a small formation.

Scientists from The Australian National University (ANU) have used new space technology to predict droughts and increased bushfire risk up to five months in advance.

U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Dan Coats, along with the heads of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), National Security Agency (NSA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), and the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), gave testimony to the U.S. Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence about the Office of the DNI's latest Worldwide Threat Assessment of the U.S. Intelligence Community on 29 January 2019

Iran’s ICT Minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, and his Iraqi counterpart have called for broadening joint cooperation in space and information technology (IT) after a meeting on 22 January 2019.

China has agreed to grant U.S.$72 million for the EgyptSat-2 Earth observation satellite programme under a contract signed on 21 January 2019.

Some unnamed European Union member states are discussing the possibility of creating a European space force according to Elzbieta Bienkowska, the European Commissioner for Internal Market, Industry, and Entrepreneurship and who is also in charge of EU space policy.

A military Earth observation satellite made by several laboratories within India's Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and called MicroSat-R was launched on board an Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) on 24 January 2019 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.

Arktika-M, the first Russian weather forecasting satellite for monitoring climate and the environment in the Arctic region is planned to be launched into a Molniya orbit in June 2019, according to Russian space industry officials who spoke to Sputnik, a Russian news outlet.

Kleos Space S.A. reports that the company's first cluster of satellites has entered the Integration Phase after successfully undergoing Critical Design Review (CDR) with Gomspace A/S.