Policy and Law

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) will host the United Nations/United Arab Emirates High Level Forum: “Space as a Driver for Socio-Economic Sustainable Development,” which will be jointly organised by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the United Arab Emirates Space Agency, held from November …

Prior to this year’s High Level Forum in Dubai, SpaceWatch Middle East spoke with Simonetta di Pippo, Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), about this year’s HLF forecast. We are heading towards the 2017 High Level Forum (HLF) in Dubai. Last year the Dubai Declaration …

The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development’s Working Group on Technologies in Space and the Upper-Atmosphere, has launched a report[1] titled, Identifying the Potential of New Communications Technologies for Sustainable Development. The Working Group, chaired by Rupert Pearce, CEO, Inmarsat, found that satellite and high altitude systems offer significant advantages for …

The UAE Space Agency welcomed an official delegation from Kuwaiti scientific, research, and academic institutions visiting the UAE this week to learn about the experience, achievements and future plans of the UAE space sector. The delegation included representatives from Kuwait University, Kuwait Advanced Technology Foundation, and Kuwait Institute for Scientific …

Angola’s first communications satellite, AngoSat-1, will be launched into geostationary orbit on December 7, 2017, according a spokesman for the Russia Space Corporation Energia (RKK Energiya). The launcher to be used will be a Zenit carrier rocket built in Ukraine, and the launch itself shall be from the Baikonur Cosmodrome …

According to Ahmet Arslan, the Turkish Minister for Transport, Maritime Affairs, and Communications, the eagerly anticipated Turkish space agency will be established this legislative year. Quoted in Turkish newspaper The Daily Sabah, Arslan justified the need for a Turkish space agency when he said, “As we have seen, the fact …

Ethiopia and India have raised the possibility of space cooperation with each other after a state visit to the Horn of Africa country by Indian President Ram Nath Kovind on October 5-7, 2017. The Ethiopian government announced in early 2017 that it intends to build its own medium-sized space launch …

International competition in space has been a permanent feature of humankind’s forays into Earth orbit and beyond ever since the launch of Sputnik by the former Soviet Union on October 4, 1957. During the Cold War the competition was between super powers. Today the competition is between at least 60 countries and …

The UAE Space Agency has signed a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, with the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, defining a framework for collaboration and the exchange of information and expertise in the fields of space science, research, and technology. The MoU was signed by Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al …

Just as Turkey’s Space programme is about to be put on a permanent footing with the establishment of its national space agency, some Turkish entrepreneurs fear that they are being squeezed out of satellite and space business in favour of large companies such as Turksat, Rocketsan, and Turkish Aerospace Industries …