How should India approach Chinese efforts to develop antisatellite (ASAT) weapons and its ambition to establish space superiority? In a talk given to the Observer Research Foundation’s Space Security conference in New Delhi on 16 February, 2018, ThorGroup’s Dr. John B. Sheldon offers a few suggestions. For those who have just …
Read More »Missile Experts Assert that Iran is Not Pursuing an ICBM Programme
A report authored by two prominent missile experts and published on 2 March, 2018, by the prominent think-tank, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), have asserted that Iran’s satellite launch vehicle capabilities are most likely not a ruse for an intercontinental ballistic missile programme, as claimed by a number …
Read More »Iran Set To Launch Four Satellites Soon, Warns of Parallel IRGC Space Programme
Iran’s Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, told a space conference in Tehran on 3 February, 2018, that an Iranian satellite is ready to launch, and three others are in their pre-launch procedures. Jahromi also told his audience that Iran has made “great headways in developing …
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Op’Ed: Spacepower and Sea Control in the South China Sea and Beyond
The recent announcement by China to orbit ten Earth observation satellites to solidify its sovereign claim for the South China Sea is a harbinger of the competitions to come for the control of other vital strategic waters across the globe. ThorGroup’s Chairman and President, Dr. John B. Sheldon, examines this phenomenon …
Read More »Iran To Use Azerbaijani Imaging Satellite
A source within the Iranian communications industry revealed to Trend News in late December 2017 that Iran would continue to utilize Azerbaijan’s AzerSky satellite. The source further stated that the two countries have discussed the possibility for increased cooperation regarding satellite operations during 2018. The AzerSky satellite was sold to …
Read More »#SpaceWatchME Review of 2017 – A Year in Content
Wow. It’s been a busy year at SpaceWatch Middle East, but it’s also been a very rewarding one as the team has seen the platform grow form literally nothing to a publication that has earned a following that we could never have dreamed of and interest from all over the …
Read More »Iran Space Agency Provides Update on Status of Satellites at World Space Week Event
During a press conference marking World Space Week, the head of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), Mohsen Bahrami, provided an update to the status of the five indigenously built satellites awaiting launch in Iran. The satellites (Doosti, Amir Kabir, Nahid 1, Zafar, and Pars 1) are all “on the agenda …
Read More »Saudi Arabia and Russia Deepen Space Cooperation, Agree on Joint Space Exploration Projects
H.M.King Salman of Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with President Vladimir Putin of Russia on Thursday, October 5, 2017, committing both countries to space exploration cooperation. The agreement was one of many signed between the two leaders as King Salman made a state visit to Russia on October 4-6, 2017. …
Read More »Iran Announces Plans to Join Two APSCO Projects
Iran’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology (CIT) announced in September that Iran will increase its collaborative efforts with the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organisation (APSCO). APSCO’s Secretary General, Li Xinjun, recently voiced his approval of Iran’s advancements in its technology sector, and indicated this was the reason the organisation is …
Read More »Iran to Launch National Radio Navigation System As Stop Gap Measure For Its GPS-like Network
Iran declared its intentions several months ago to fund an Iranian Local Positioning System (LPS) – a satellite navigation system similar to the U.S.-driven Global Positioning System (GPS). Announced by the Deputy of the Iran Space Agency (ISA), the satellite system is a long-term project and will require heavy investment …
Read More »