Policy and Law

By Blaine Curcio and Tianyi Lan When reading about the Chinese space industry in English-language media, or when speaking with Western companies about the Chinese space industry, we oftentimes hear two types of opinions: China is catching up in space so fast! By Wednesday next week, they will have overtaken …

Hub71, a global tech hub driven by Mubadala in collaboration with Microsoft, SoftBank Vision Fund and Abu Dhabi Global Market, announced that two new partners, Techstars and Starburst, will join Hub71 in Q4 of this year. Hub71 is a key initiative of the Abu Dhabi Government’s Ghadan 21 economic acceleration programme.

Portugal has become the latest country to establish a national space agency. The new entity, called Portugal Space, will be headquartered in the Azores island of Santa Maria, the site of a proposed spaceport and a European Space Agency (ESA) Estrack tracking and telemetry station.

Pakistan signed a space cooperation agreement with China at a ceremony in Beijing held on 27 April 2019 providing a framework for the training of Pakistani astronauts, space science and exploration, as well as the establishment of a Sino-Pakistani space committee that will discuss other cooperative initiatives in space.

U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM) reached a milestone with the signing of its 100th space situational awareness agreement when the Romanian Space Agency signed an agreement with USSTRATCOM on 25 April 2019. These agreements foster openness, predictability of space operations and transparency in space activities.

Germany's Ministry of Economy is drafting new space laws and regulations - that could be submitted to the Bundestag for ratification as soon as the end of this year – in order to incentivize the German private sector to invest in the rapidly growing global space sector, according to a 28 April 2019 report by Reuters.

In the presence of Abdellatif Loudiyi, Minister Delegate to the Head of Government in charge of the National Defense Administration of Morocco, and Mr. Moulay Hafid Elalamy, Moroccan Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy, Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES) and of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), gave the opening address on 24 April 2019 in Marrakesh at the GLEC 2019 Global Conference on Space for Emerging Countries (GLEC).

The UK's International Trade Secretary, Dr. Liam Fox, announced on 25 April 2019 that UK Export Finance (UKEF) will support an Airbus Defence and Space Ltd UK contract with Turksat, the Turkish communications satellite operator. Airbus will manufacture and deliver, in orbit, two telecom satellites and a ground station, which will be essential for the continued provision of TV and data services in Turkey and the wider region.

So much of the coverage of what happens in national, regional, and international space activities focuses on the technical aspects of space or on high-level policy making. A growing number of individuals and organisations, however, are bridging these two very different aspects of the space sector. In Australia, Aria Stirling Colton is doing just this with her Adelaide-based National Space Innovation Hub (NSIH). Helen Jameson, the Editor-in-Chief of SpaceWatch.Global, spoke with Aria to find out more.

Surrounded by air chiefs from 11 other nations, U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David L. Goldfein plunged deep into discussion 11 April 2019 about the changing nature of space.