Tag Archives: Middle East

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.

The UAE Space Agency will continue selecting astronaut candidates in order to create a national astronaut cadre with the aim of sending Emiratis in to orbit annually, Dr. Mohammed Al Ahbabi, the Director General of the agency, said in an interview with Russian news outlet Sputnik.

SpaceX successfully launched the Es’hail-2 satellite for Qatar’s Es’hailsat on Thursday, 15 November 2018, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States. Liftoff occurred at 3:46 p.m. EST, or 20:46 UTC, and the satellite was deployed to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after launch.

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.

Thuraya Telecommunications Company, a subsidiary of the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), announced on 13 November 2018 that the world’s first satellite smartphone, the Thuraya X5-Touch, would be available for commercial distribution in less than a month.

IEC Telecom and two of its long-standing strategic partners, UAE's Yahsat and its subsidiary Thuraya, are offering new products, services, and connectivity services at the 2018 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

Arabsat, one of the world’s leading satellite operators, and Forsway Scandinavia AB, a global specialist in providing innovative satellite broadband solutions, have announced the deployment of affordable satellite broadband services across Africa under the new Arabsat Broadband package.

Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, reported on 12 November 2018 its results for the third quarter ended 30 September 2018.

Tunisia will host the second forum on Chinese and Arab country cooperation on the use and adoption of the Chinese global navigation satellite system (GNSS), named BeiDou, in the first half of 2019.

Qatar’s Es’hailsat is expected to have its Es’hail-2 communications satellite launched on Thursday, 15 November 2018, on board a SpaceX Falcon-9 satellite launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Florida.