Earth observation

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 …

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. In the meeting, Iranian ICT Minister Jahromi pointed to the country’s achievements in the fields of space and the construction …

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. This is the third grant provided by China to Egypt for the satellite project, with an initial grant of U.S.$23 million given in 2016, and a second grant …

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. “Several member states are considering just now ways to strengthen their …

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. DRDO has …

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. “The launch of the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle …

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. The CDR ensured the satellites could proceed towards assembly, validation, integration and testing and confirms they meet stated performance cost, schedule, and risk requirements. …

Roscosmos head, Dmitry Rogozin has announced that Russia will construct Sovereign’s Eye (‘Gosudarevo Oko’), a new constellation of remote sensing satellites that will enable them to identify any changes that are happening on Earth. Rogozin highlighted that the new initiative will enable Russian to strengthen its Digital Economy programme, which …

The successful launch of the Vietnamese MicroDragon Earth observation satellite took place on 18 January 2019 from the Uchinoura Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. The Earth observation satellite was carried by an Epsilon 4 satellite launch vehicle, which also lofted six Japanese-made satellites into low-Earth orbit (LEO). The MicroDragon …

Monday 14 January in Dakar, Mary Teuw Niane, Senegal’s Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and Jean-Pascal Le Franc, CNES’s Director of Programming, International and Quality, signed an agreement to step up cooperation between France and Senegal in space. Closer cooperation between the Ministry and CNES will spur development …