Tag Archives: Iran

It has been a busy few weeks in the Middle Eastern satellite and space sector, with developments and activities taking place from Morocco to Iran, and all points in between. The following is a roundup of the regional space and satellite news that was not previously covered in-depth by SpaceWatch.MiddleEast.

Morocco's Mohammed VI-B high-resolution Earth observation satellite is expected to be launched on an Arianespace launch vehicle from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana on 20 November 2018, on board an Arianespace Vega satellite launch vehicle, with the mission dubbed by Arianespace as Vega Flight VV13.

As part of the 10th anniversary celebrations of the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO), China intends to promote satellite imagery sharing with other member states for applications such as urban planning, disaster monitoring and assessment, as well as resource management and surveying.

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).

As the Asian Century takes on an interstellar dimension, who will write the rules of the road? Rajeswari Rajagopalan writes that space will likely be no exception to Asia’s great power rivalries.

Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is developing a large constellation of Earth observation nanosatellites to provide persistent overhead reconnaissance and ballistic missile early warning over countries and areas of concern to Israeli national security, as a supplement to Israel’s existing satellite reconnaissance capabilities and U.S. ballistic missile early warning satellites.

China's Institute of Aerospace Information Research has helped ten countries install virtual ground stations in order to receive remote sensing data, it was announced last week.

Moroccan media is reporting that the North African country's second high-resolution Earth observation satellite, the Mohammed VI-B, is due to be launched on an Arianespace launch vehicle from the Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana in November 2018 on either the Vega or Soyuz ST-A Fregat-M satellite launch vehicles.

U.S. cyber security company SecureWorks, a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, has issued a report claiming that a previously identified Iranian hacker group called COBALT DICKENS is likely behind numerous fake university websites that target legitimate users in order to provide the Iranian government access to university library holdings.

The recent pronouncement by President Donald Trump that called for the creation of a separate U.S. Space Force has been met with some consternation by a number of commentators around the world. This reaction seems more concerned with the controversial persona of President Trump rather than with the policy substance behind the rhetoric.