Satellite

Bangladesh has been given full control of its Bangabandhu-1 communications satellite after a handover ceremony where the satellite’s French manufacturer, Thales Alenia Space, provided the ‘Transfer of Title’ documents to Bangladeshi officials.

Intelsat S.A., operator of the world’s first Globalized Network and leader in integrated satellite solutions, has announced that Vodacom Mozambique has signed an agreement for a satellite solution that will provide 3G services that uniquely satisfy the growing data demand generated by the tourism sector.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, reported on 12 November 2018 its results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2018.

South Korean government agencies and universities have five payloads on board the upcoming SpaceX Falcon-9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, United States. The launch is currently scheduled for 19 November 2018, and will loft approximately 60 satellites from numerous countries and companies.

Newtec, the Belgian specialist company in the design, development and manufacture of equipment for satellite communications, announced on 12 November 2018 its technology will be used by leading satellite operator NIGCOMSAT as it expands its enterprise, government, and consumer Ka-band broadband services in Nigeria.

ICEYE, the Finnish Earth observation company creating the world's largest synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite constellation, confirmed on 8 November 2018 that it is launching the company's second SAR satellite, ICEYE-X2, into low Earth orbit on Spaceflight's SSO-A: SmallSat Express mission.

Tunisia will host the second forum on Chinese and Arab country cooperation on the use and adoption of the Chinese global navigation satellite system (GNSS), named BeiDou, in the first half of 2019.

Fleet Space Technologies' first two satellites, Proxima I and II, were launched on 11 November 2018 on-board Rocket Lab's manifest, It's Business Time. This launch marks Australia's first ever commercial CubeSats in orbit.

Rocket Lab has continued the success of its 2018 orbital launch program with the launch of seven payloads to orbit on 11 November 2018. The mission, named ‘It’s Business Time,’ marks Rocket Lab’s second successful orbital launch and deployment of customer satellites.

Following revelations in September 2018 by French defence minister Florence Parly that Russian reconnaissance satellites had maneuvered close to the Athena-Fidus Franco-Italian communications satellite in 2017 in a suspected act of espionage, the French Joint Space Command and the Ministry of Defence are preparing a space defence strategy that will be submitted to President Emmanuel Macron for his approval by the end of 2018.