Satellite

Azerbaijan’s second communications satellite, Azerspace-2, will reach its intended Geostationary orbit - 45 degrees East longitude - in January or February 2019, according to the country’s state space corporation Azercosmos, reports Trend News Agency.

The Syrian Minister of Communications and Technology, Iyad Khatib, has stated the need for Syria to develop a space programme and launch its first satellite into orbit, the ministry said on 11 December 2018, according to Russian news outlet Sputnik International.

Inmarsat has entered into an agreement with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) to be the first commercial customer to place an order for the new H3 launch vehicle. The maiden flight of H3 is scheduled for 2020 with Inmarsat planning to deploy the new launch vehicle after 2022.

Australia’s national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), has announced that it would be extending its Earth observation capabilities by acquiring Australia’s first CubeSat designed to detect invisible infrared light.

India and Japan have scheduled their first annual bilateral space dialogue in March 2019, where they will discuss cooperation and coordination on a range of civil and national security space issues, ranging from space-based maritime domain awareness and satellite reconnaissance through to the harmonization of positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems and space exploration, according to a report in the Nikkei Asian Review.

Legislators in the Philippines Congress have passed key legislation that will establish the Philippine Space Agency (PhilSA), placing the organisation in charge of developing, running, and promoting the Southeast Asian country's national space programme.

Gilat, the Israeli satellite communications equipment company, has been selected by the Local Authorities Satellite Communications (LASCOM), an agency of the Japanese government, to help provide a disaster response emergency communications platform along with the SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation.

The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) is making preparations to carry out its Mission 1 (M1) and subsequent Mission 2 (M2) CubeSat and small satellite demonstrations in cooperation with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Canberra, according to a report in The Australian newspaper.

The Russian state space corporation Roscosmos has been accused by a Russian journalist of spending "billions on space but kopecks" on the engineering talent required for the sustainable and long-term success of Russia's space ambitions.

Japanese New Space Earth observation company Axelspace Corporation has completed a Series B funding round raising approximately 2.58B JPY (U.S.$22.8 million).