Policy and Law

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) views space warfare as an important component of its concept of war, and is developing a range of capabilities and tactics to carry out space operations, as well as bolstering its organizational and command and control capacity to enable such operations, according to the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) report China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win, published in January 2019.

On 23rd June 2016, the UK voted to leave the European Union. Since then, the country has been plunged into uncertainty where voters have been left questioning their decisions, where divisions have opened up not only in the government, but between friends and families – yes, it’s a fact.

The UAE Space Agency (UAESA) has launched a National Plan for the Promotion of Space Investment aiming to increase domestic and foreign investment in the UAE space sector.

Inmarsat is set to move its European Aviation Network out of London as a result of the Brexit threat. The move, expected to happen before April, will see EAN operate out of Luxembourg but Inmarsat itself will remain headquartered in London.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has visited London and Paris as part of an effort to strengthen Tokyo's ties with Western intelligence in order to counter increasing Chinese military and espionage activities throughout the Asia-Pacific region.

Intelsat S.A., operator of the world’s first Globalized Network and leader in integrated satellite communications, announced that it has joined the Global System for Global Communications Association (GSMA - originally known as the Groupe Spécial Mobile), the organization representing mobile operators worldwide, to further strengthen the integration of satellite and terrestrial technologies and advance 5G deployments.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is aiming for the first crewed Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission to take place in December 2021.

The role of commercial space in today’s national security environments is known well enough. There are useful policy debates to be had over what national security space systems a state should absolutely provide for to ensure sovereign decision making in war versus where commercial entities can step in.

How far have we come in achieving the UN's sustainable development goals that we are committed to nationally and internationally? Yes, it can be difficult to make a global assessment of poverty and poor economic conditions, but with an eye in the sky, researchers are able to give us a very good hint of the living conditions of populations in the world's poor countries.

As Iran makes preparation to launch three satellites using Iranian launch vehicles, the United States has warned Tehran not to conduct the launches and condemned the Iranian space programme as a deceptive measure that in reality is designed to help build long-range ballistic missiles.