Policy and Law

SpaceWatch.Global is a proud partner of the Secure World Foundation, and a greateful recipient of SWF support. The SWF published a new report on 11 April 2018 titled Global Counterspace Capabilities: An Open Source Assessment that provides an exhaustive, comprehensive, incisive, and useful open source guide to global counterspace capabilities and developments, as well as analysis of their implications. Here, the authors of that report, Victoria Samson and Brian Weeden, summarise the study and provide a broader geopolitical context about its importance.

A Japanese military satellite payload, DSN-1, a dedicated military communications payload for the Japanese Ministry of Defence (MoD), was successfully launched into orbit on-board a SKY Perfect JSAT Superbird-8 communications satellite by Arianespace on 5 April 2018.

SpaceUp is a worldwide leading space exploration ‘unconference’ platform specifically designed for free exchange of new and interdisciplinary ideas. It brings together students, researchers, entrepreneurs, astronauts, cosmonauts, and space enthusiasts to network, learn, and actively interchange interesting space ideas. Participants can talk or present on any chosen space-related topic from any discipline like astrophysics, cosmology, engineering, biochemistry, human physiology, business, law, policy, arts, culture, fiction, etc.

South Korea's Agency for Defense Development (ADD), an agency of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), has said that it does not rule out finding another contractor to lead the South Korean reconnaissance satellite programme after current contractor, LIG Nex1, is reported to want to lower the requirement standards for satellite imagery quality and quantity.

Vietnam has formally joined the Japanese-led Asian Microsatellite Consortium (AMC) with the completion of its MicroDragon microsatellite, a move that will help the Southeast Asian country develop the necessary technologies and human capacities to design and produce further microsatellites, the Vietnam Space Center (VNSC) announced on 9 April 2018.

The Russian Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Defence Minister of Russia, General Valeriy Gerasimov, gave a speech on his conception of future warfare to the Military Academy of the General Staff on 24 March 2018, in which the military uses of space features prominently.

Patrick Nyirishema, the Director-General of the Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA), told a workshop on space regulations in Kigali – the capital city of Rwanda – that the small African country is looking at developing its own small communications satellite, and is also mulling the possibility of proposing a regional satellite with six other East African countries, according to a report by Africanews.space.

New discussions between the UAE and South Korea underscore their deep strategic cooperation in space in what has become an enduring collaboration between the two emerging spacepowers. The UAE Space Agency, led by Dr. Eng. Mohammed Nasser Al Ahbabi, Director-General, welcomed Mi-Ock Mun, Advisor to the President for Science and Technology from the Office of the President of the Republic of South Korea, in Abu Dhabi last week. According to a press release, the leaders and their delegations discussed further space cooperation opportunities between the two parties.

The United Arab Emirates has signed a Letter of Intent with Russia and Kazakhstan to cooperate in space exploration and future space projects. The agreement was signed during a visit to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan by a delegation from the UAE Space Agency led by Dr. Ahmad Abdullah Al Falasi, UAE Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency.

Kenya's first indigenously-built satellite was launched by a SpaceX Falcon-9 space launch vehicle to the International Space Station (ISS) on 2 April 2018 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The satellite, called First Kenya University Nano Satellite-Precursor Flight (1KUNS-PF) was built by a team from the University of Nairobi, with technical assistance from staff from the University of Rome, and co-funded by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) as part of the KiboCUBE programme.