Policy and Law

Diplomatic efforts are gathering in the Middle East and North Africa toward the development of a regional mechanism for space cooperation and development among Arab countries. At the recent Global Aerospace Summit in Abu Dhabi, the region made progress toward establishing an Arab space organisation.

A political competition to host the headquarters of the new Australian Space Agency has emerged between Australian states, a development that a prominent Australian space policy expert is counterproductive, even pointless, and misunderstands the role and scope of the agency that is due to start operations on 1 July 2018.

The launch of the Chinese meteorological satellite, Fengyun-2H, marks another step in the Chinese-led Space Silk Road, as Beijing dedicates the system to providing weather coverage along Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) territories.

The Zimbabwe government has announced that it intends to create a national space agency that will be called the National Geo-Spatial and Space Agency (NGSSA).

India has solidified its space cooperation relationships in Southeast Asia, and called for rules-based order throughout the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) – to include space – during visits to Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi this past week.

Luxembourg-based Kleos Space, a private satellite intelligence-gathering space technology operator that will launch and operate its first earth observation satellite system by mid-2019, is completing the administrative details in order to be ready for its impending listing on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) with the change of its legal name.

What are the prospects for Britain cooperating with other countries around the world to meet its satellite navigation needs after it leaves the European Union? Is such cooperation a good use of scarce financial and industrial resources for these countries? Dr. John B. Sheldon, Chairman and President of ThorGroup GmbH and publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, reports.

The UAE Space Agency is participating in the high-level SpaceOps 2018 conference, hosted by the French space agency, to exchange detailed technical and mission data for the upcoming Emirates Mars Mission. Space Ops is a biannual international forum for discussing advanced and technical areas of space exploration. The 2018 event, hosted by the French Centre National d'études Spatiales (CNES), takes place 28 May - 1 June 2018 at the Palais du Pharo in Marseilles.

The Thai Ministry of Defence (MoD) is to take on national security space missions, and incorporate military space concepts of operations and their associated threats and opportunities in its defence strategy, operations, tactics, techniques, and procedures. According to Thai media reports, the MoD in Bangkok is considering options that include the leasing of an Earth observation satellite from a U.S.-based company and the introduction of space principles, operations, and concepts of operations throughout all Thai defence-related training and education in order to create a space savvy military.

China has issued an open invitation to all countries interested in participating in its planned orbital station in a bid to establish itself as a leading international space power and expand its influence. This step is especially significant at a time when NASA, the U.S. space agency, and its partners are trying to decide how long to maintain the International Space Station (ISS). The China Space Station is due to become operational as soon as 2022.