Satcoms

As part of the partnership between SpaceWatch.Global and Project Plougshares, we have been granted permission to publish selected articles and texts. This is Part 1 of “Did Russia Test a Weapon in Space? What the question and the answer tell us about the security of outer space”, originally published 30 July 2020 in Ploughshares Spotlight, July 2020.

TNO becomes the first party to deliver an optical module to German Airbus Defence & Space which is assembling the Sentinel-5 satellite instrument. The aim of Sentinel-5 is to accurately monitor the composition of the Earth's atmosphere on a daily basis.

The Briz-M booster has put Russian communications satellites Express-80 and Express-103 on the designated orbit at an altitude of 54,900 kilometers, the press service of Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos said on Friday, 31 July 2020.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Johnson Space Center (JSC) for the delivery of the X-Band Transceiver and X-Band Diplexer, which will ensure communications for the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER).

By Raphael Roettgen With approximately US$56 million of space-related funding rounds, July was slightly stronger than June 2020, but still on the weak side, and lacking any large rounds (except as noted below). On the positive side, the monthly rounds represent a good cross-section of geographies and subsectors. SpaceX is …

Over the next decade, Earth Observation (EO) satellites will stop streaming image data to the earth. Instead, the instruments onboard EO satellites will tell us what is happening below. And, these satellites will be able to take control of their operations to allow for the execution of complex tasks.

The UAE’s space programmes, especially the successful launch of its Mars Mission, will give a fillip to Asia’s lead in fourth Industrial revolution and make the Emirates "a big stakeholder in the development of developing countries across the globe," a senior academic told Emirates News Agency, WAM.

Azercosmos signed a cooperation agreement with Canada’s Canada’s Prime African Media Systems company. Prime African Media Systems operates in the field of telecommunications, providing satellite solutions and teleport services.

Open Cosmos has sealed a deal with satellite communications operator Sateliot to build and operate their nanosatellite constellation enabling continuous global connectivity for Internet of Things (IoT) under 5G architecture.

RHEA Group and satellite solutions provider GomSpace have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to further combine their expertise on Security for Space and the development and operations of large constellations of SmallSats.