Policy and Law

China and Russia have signed a cooperative agreement on 7 November 2018 covering their respective global navigation satellite systems (GNSS), BeiDou and GLONASS. The agreement was one of a number of energy and trade deals signed by Chinese Premier Le Keqiang and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during a visit …

During a visit to Vietnam by the French Prime Minister, Jean-Yves Le Gall, the President of the Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES), signed a number of agreements with Vietnamese counterparts covering the French-led Space Climate Observatory (SCO), STEM education, and maritime and oceanographic surveillance. “The Prime Minister’s official visit to …

Japan launched its own satellite positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) system called Michibiki  on Thursday, 1 November 2018, as part of an effort to generate new businesses worth nearly 5 trillion yen (U.S.$44.4 billion) by 2025, as companies such as SoftBank Group, Mitsubishi Electric, and Hitachi develop applications in automated …

Ethiopian scientists and engineers are building a small Earth observation satellite in cooperation with and with funding from China, which will be launched from China in 2019, according to a report in The East African newspaper. This announcement is the culmination of much effort to bring Ethiopian space ambitions to reality. …

Member States of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) have re-elected Houlin Zhao of China as ITU Secretary-General during the Union’s 20th Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-18) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The election took place in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, during the Plenary session of the PP-18 conference this morning. Zhao won …

Japan’s New Space scene is little known and understood outside of Tokyo, despite the emergence of some interesting startups such as iSpace and Infostellar to name just two as well as some big Japanese government announcements about supporting startups in the space sector. SpaceWatch.Global reached out to Masashi Sato, a Senior Consultant …

The head of the Iranian Space Agency (ISA), Morteza Barari, announced in early October 2018 that three Iranian-made satellites – Payam-e Amirkabir-1, Dousti, and Nahid-1 – have been built and are ready to be launched, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA). Morteza Berari made the announcement at a …

The Australian Space Agency (ASA) released its institutional charter on 29 October 2018 that will guide the agency in its efforts to develop Australian civil space capabilities and competencies, as well as establish a thriving space and satellite industrial base. “The charter provides a high-level strategic overview of the agency, …

Nigeria is lobbying the African Union (AU) to host its African Space Centre, according to a report published in the Nigerian newspaper Independent on 29 October 2018. The Nigerian Minister for Science and Technology, Ogbonnaya Onu, advocated on behalf of the Nigerian government to the African Union panel assessing selected African …

The Russian government has stated that it will not allow OneWeb, the U.S. satellite communications start-up building a 900-satellite megaconstellation, to provide satellite broadband Internet in Russia, citing national security concerns that the company might provide access to an open Internet that is out Moscow’s control. This statement comes despite …