Policy and Law

The Philippines will soon sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Russian national space agency, Roscosmos, that will allow the Southeast Asian country to launch the micro- and nanosatellites it is developing, as well as be a site for a receiving station of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) – Russia's positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) satellite constellation that is the equivalent of, and rival to, the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS).

Myanmar is mulling creating its own national space agency and the acquisition of an Earth observation small satellite with the assistance of Hokkaido University in Japan. Myanma engineers and scientists are set to take part in the manufacture and integration of some the components and instruments, according to reports in the Myanma media.

The Australian Space Agency and its French counterpart, the Centre national d'études spatiales (CNES), have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that commits both countries work together to develop their respective space programmes and take full advantage of the rapidly expanding global space industry.

The Israeli government has made the decision to subsidize Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) in designing and building a communications satellite following the decision by Spacecom earlier this year to tap U.S. satellite manufacturer Space Systems Loral (SSL) to build its AMOS-8 satellite instead of giving the contract to IAI.

Jean-Yves Le Gall, the president of the French National space agency the Centre national d’etudes spatiales (CNES), visited Jakarta, Indonesia, on 31 August 2018 to meet with his counterparts from the Indonesian space agency, LAPAN, and the Indonesian agency for meteorology, climatology, and geophysics, BMKG, to discuss Indonesia’s participation in the CNES-led Space Climate Observatory (SCO) initiative.

Following the announcement in early August 2018 by Narendra Modi, India’s Prime Minister, that India will launch its own Vyomanauts into space by 2022, senior Indian space officials have added more details about what is now called the Gaganyaan programme.

Indonesia’s space agency, Lembaga Penerbangan dan Antariksa Nasional (LAPAN), has announced that it intends to launch an indigenous space launch vehicle (SLV) by 2040 with the ability to insert a 1-ton satellite into Low Earth Orbit (LEO), according to SpaceTech Asia.

The EgyptSat-A, also known as MisrSat-A, high-resolution Earth observation satellite is due to be launched by Russia in November 2018, just as the threat to Egypt's borders and unrest in the Sinai Peninsula is becoming more acute.

Australia’s New South Wales (NSW) is engaging in the emerging competition among other states such as South Australia to establish itself as Australia’s leading New Space hub by funding seven NSW space startups to attend the AusTrade Landing Pad last week.

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is developing a small launch vehicle that weighs no more than 100 tons that can loft a 500 kg satellite into a 500 km orbit. ISRO is currently earning about U.S.$40 million annually through launching small satellites for foreign customers, and aims to increase its revenue by using the small launch vehicle to serve the burgeoning small satellite market.