According to Euroconsult’s newly released research report, Government Space Programs: Benchmarks, Profiles and Forecasts to 2026, global space budgets totaled $62.2 billion in 2016, down 2% from the previous year. Governments launched 75 satellites, less than the historical peak of 2015 but in line with the last five year average. …
Read More »Regional Beidou Centre of Excellence To Be Opened in Tunisia in November 2017
China and Middle Eastern states are working together to promote the use of China’s Beidou Navigation Satellite System in the region, according to a statement following an industry forum on May 24, 2017. All parties concerned have pledged to strengthen their communication and collaboration in satellite navigation and to bring …
Read More »Iran Abandons Its Human Spaceflight Ambitions
In an unsurprising move, the Iranian government has officially abandoned Tehran’s ambitions to send humans into space. According to Iranian news agency ILNA, Mohammad Homayoun Sadr, the deputy head of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), made the announcement citing the extremely steep cost of a human spaceflight programme that he …
Read More »Iran Adds Soha Remote Sensing Satellite to List of Imminent Launches
Iranian press reports suggest that Iran is preparing a third satellite for launch within the next 12-18 months. The satellite in question is called Soha, a remote sensing satellite believed to have a resolution of 15 metres. According to the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the head of the Iran …
Read More »The Outer Space Treaty and Marco Polo’s World: What We Have Been Reading
It’s been quite some time since we last shared with our readers what we have been reading, and we’ve even heard that this irregular feature has been missed! So, without further ado, here’s what has caught our attention over the past few weeks: The Wall Street Journal published an interesting …
Read More »Egyptian Cabinet Receives Formal Legal Submission for Creation of Egyptian Space Agency
The Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research has submitted a formal proposal for the creation of an Egyptian Space Agency to the cabinet in Cairo. According to Deputy Minister of Higher Education for Scientific Research Essam Khamis, the ministry submitted text for a law that would establish the …
Read More »Analyst: Iran’s Cyber Warfare Capabilities Of Concern, But Hardly Sophisticated or Dangerous
A prominent U.S. cyber warfare expert has admonished other cyber security experts for exaggerating the danger posed by Iran’s cyber warfare and espionage organisations and entities. Dr. Brandon Valeriano, a Reader at Cardiff University in Wales and author of Cyber War versus Cyber Realities published by Oxford University Press in …
Read More »U.S. Intelligence Voices Concerns About Iranian Satellite Jamming and Spoofing Capabilities
The U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, voiced growing U.S. concerns about Iranian satellite jamming and spoofing activity in testimony he gave to the U.S. Senate’s Select Committee on Intelligence in Washington, DC, on May 11, 2017. The testimony by Mr. Coats was part of the annual briefing on …
Read More »Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation Site Visit to Iran for SMMS Programme
An Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO) delegation successfully conducted the Hosting Site Survey at the proposed Iranian site on April 8-13, 2017, as the follow up to one of the most important tasks in the Small Multi-Mission Satellite (SMMS) Project phase B. This mission was conducted by experts from the …
Read More »Israel’s Spacecom Hangs Tough, Signals End of Xinwei Attempted Buyout
Israeli satellite communications company Spacecom has formally backed away from buyout talks with China’s Beijing Xinwei Technology Group, according to Space News. “At the moment there are no talks with Xinwei,” said Spacecom’s Senior Vice-President for Sales and Marketing, Jacob Keret, to Space News. Spacecom and Beijing Xinwei Technology Group …
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