Satellite

DigitalGlobe, a leading provider of commercial high-resolution satellite imagery and a subsidiary of Maxar Technologies, has announced the launch of its Rapid Access Program, a service that allows clients to task DigitalGlobe satellites to high-priority targets.

The infrastructure boom across Eurasia is creating its own demand for satellite data and services. In this essay, Dr. John B. Sheldon of ThorGroup GmbH looks at the growing interconnections between satellites and the expanding rail networks across Eurasia. The transformation of the geopolitical and geoeconomic order of Eurasia is perhaps the greatest phenomenon of our time, even with headlines pounding out the steady drumbeat of imminent war in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Japan is making further inroads to Africa, helping another African country, Rwanda, join the space club. The University of Tokyo has signed an agreement with Rwanda to help it build a small satellite and train its future engineers. The agreement, signed on 9 May 2018 in Rwanda’s capital Kigali during the Transform Africa summit, is between the Smart Africa Initiative and Rwanda, and the University of Tokyo.

The Australian government has announced inaugural seed funding of AUS$26 million over four years to establish an Australian Space Agency, as part of a larger AUS$41 million investment in space-related funding. Although this funding is less than the predicted AUS$50 million due to an overall reduction in government spending on science and research, it ends Australia's status as one of the only OECD countries without a space agency, and it is predicted to boost the Australian space sector.

The world's largest satellite communications provider, Intelsat, will partner with Israel's Gilat in a pilot program to provide a communications infrastructure for Uganda's rural populations as part of the effort to enhance that country's economic and social development.

As part of its reorganization and reassignment of its most senior executives since the appointment of Dr. Roger Tong as its Chief Executive Officer in April 2018, Hong Kong’s Asiasat has announced two new corporate promotions to important technical positions on the board.

Thaicom, Thailand’s biggest commercial satellite communications provider, and We Are IT Philippines Incorporated (WIT), announced in Manila on 3 May 2018 that WIT will lease the entire capacity on Thaicom’s IPSTAR satellite to provide broadband Internet coverage across the Philippines.

The working relationship between the UAE and France is a model of space cooperation in the 21st century, and their collaboration is now expanding to include space medicine research for UAE's astronaut programme, as well as ongoing partnership on projects relating to climate change and Mars exploration.

Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects (DAEP) has proposed the creation of a Multi-Mode Super Port at Dubai's Al Maktoum International Airport to provide a single hub for all sub- and supersonic air travel, space access, and hyperloop transportation in the UAE and the Middle East region.

Australia and France are set to cooperate in hyperspectral remote sensing for monitoring the environment and global warming, as part of France's quest to become a leading power in the use of space systems in the battle against climate change.