Government

The Luxembourg Government and NorthStar Earth & Space signed a Letter of Intent to create a Centre of Excellence for Clean Space in Luxembourg and to consider a contribution to NorthStar and its innovation activities in order to promote the safe and sustainable use of outer space for the benefit of all humanity.

Orbit Communication Systems Ltd., a leading global provider of airborne communications and satellite-tracking maritime and ground-station solutions, and Inmarsat Government, a leading provider of global mobile satellite communications and managed network services to the US government, today announced an initial order from Inmarsat Government for Orbit's Multi-Purpose Terminal (MPT) 46WGX.

The World Radio Conference 2019 (WRC-19) in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt, took place on 28 October to 22 November 2019. The conference brought together 3500 participants from the ITU membership representing the world of frequency management on this planet. The following commentary is a quick overview of satellite-related WRC-19 decisions.

These personal reviews are being published during the holiday season. This is Jessica West of Project Ploughshares.

These personal reviews are being published during the holiday season. This is Blaine Curcio of Orbital Gateway Consulting.

The Saudi Arabian Space Commission is reportedly about to submit a National Space Strategy and other legal and policy documents that consolidate the commission's roles and missions to King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, according to a senior Saudi Space Commission advisor speaking at a recent space event in Riyadh.

Spare a thought this Christmas for researchers hunkered down on their Polarstern icebreaker, adrift in the frozen Arctic Ocean. Subjected to temperatures as low as -45 C and the perpetual darkness of the polar winter, they are willing participants in MOSAiC - the world's largest and longest polar research expedition.

Ethiopia’s first Earth observation satellite, the Ethiopian Remote Sensing Satellite (ETRSS-1), was successfully launched on board a Chinese Long March 4B satellite launched vehicle from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre on 20 December 2019.

Japanese satellite and space industry giant Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) has announced that an MHI H-IIA satellite launch vehicle will send Japan's eighth Intelligence Gathering System (IGS) reconnaissance satellite into orbit from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwest Japan, on 27 January 2020.

The President of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Aleksandr Sergeyev, has stated that Russia intends to build a group of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) Earth observation satellites with assistance from the space and satellite industry of Belarus, according to Belarusian news agency BELTA.