In February 2018, the Austrian Space Forum – in partnership with the Oman National Steering Comittee for AMADEE-18 – will conduct an international Mars analog field simulation in the Dhofar region of Oman. Directed by a Mission Support Centre in Austria, a small field crew will conduct experiments preparing for …
Read More »Oman Hosts 40th Session of Arabsat General Assembly Meeting in Muscat
The Arab Satellite Communications Organization – Arabsat – is holding its Board of Directors meeting in, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, on April 11-12, 2017 , followed by the General Assembly meeting with the attendance of their excellencies the Arab ministers of telecommunications and the heads of Arab delegations. Engineer Khalid …
Read More »Calls Grow for the Creation of a Kuwaiti Space Agency
The case for the creation of a Kuwaiti space agency is growing with prominent Kuwaiti scientists advocating that the Gulf kingdom consider the merits of establishing a formal entity to deal with space issues. Quoted in the English-language newspaper Kuwait Times, scientist Dr. Hala Al-Jassar, an Assistant Professor in the …
Read More »Taqnia Space selects Eutelsat to empower its HTS Aero service over Middle East, North Africa, Mediterranean and Europe
Checking emails and social networks, streaming live content at 36,000 feet are poised to become reality at the end of this year for passengers connected to Taqnia Space Aero services’ platform following an agreement between Eutelsat Communications, one of the world’s leading satellite operators, and Taqnia Space (TSC), owned by …
Read More »Symposium in Oman aims to raise awareness on peaceful uses of space applications
Under the auspices of Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Futaisi, Oman’s Minister of Transport and Communications, the National Symposium on “The Peaceful Uses of Space Applications and Technologies for Comprehensive Development” began on Sunday, 30 October, and concluded on Monday on 31 October 2016, in Muscat, Oman. Among those who …
Read More »Challenges and Opportunities for a Kuwaiti Space Programme, Part II
Several weeks ago SpaceWatch Middle East contributor Ghanim Alotaibi, a Kuwaiti engineer and Space Generation Advisory Council member, wrote of the need for a Kuwaiti space programme, but that such an endeavor faces several challenges, starting with the challenge of ‘Kuwaitisation’. This week, Ghanim address the other three challenges Kuwaiti leaders will …
Read More »Oman government giving national communications satellite a fresh look
Media reports in Oman indicate that the government in Muscat is reexamining the feasibility of acquiring a national communications satellite to serve broad Omani telecommunications needs. Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim al Futaisi, Oman’s Minister of Transport and Communications, said that the government is developing a range of studies …
Read More »Securing reliable satellite navigation in the Middle East
It is difficult to overstate the critical importance of satellite navigation for the Middle East, yet the service is vulnerable to disruption. ThorGroup’s Dr. John B. Sheldon examines the threats to satellite navigation in the region, and ways to mitigate their worst effects. When Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) seized …
Read More »India’s IRNSS gives Middle East new SatNav option
The successful launch on 28 April 2016 of the seventh satellite of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) means that the Middle East region will soon have a supplementary, or even alternative, satellite navigation saystem to the American Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s GLONASS, and Europe’s Galileo. The satellite, …
Read More »