Portugal is about to make a big splash in the space sector with parallel announcements covering a major cooperative programme with China, and a proposed space launch complex in the Azores islands in the mid-Atlantic ocean involving European, Russian, and U.S. company bids to build it.
Read More »Ethiopia To Build And Launch Remote Sensing Satellite With Chinese Help
Ethiopian scientists and engineers are building a small Earth observation satellite in cooperation with and with funding from China, which will be launched from China in 2019, according to a report in The East African newspaper. This announcement is the culmination of much effort to bring Ethiopian space ambitions to reality.
Read More »#SpaceWatchGL Interviews: Masashi Sato Of NRI On The State and Future of Japanese New Space
Japan's New Space scene is little known and understood outside of Tokyo, despite the emergence of some interesting startups such as iSpace and Infostellar to name just two as well as some big Japanese government announcements about supporting startups in the space sector. SpaceWatch.Global reached out to Masashi Sato, a Senior Consultant at the Nomura Research Institute Ltd. (NRI) in Tokyo and a leading expert on the Japanese space startup scene, to find out what the current state of play is and what the future holds.
Read More »Moscow To Deny OneWeb Satellite Broadband Access To Russia To Preserve Internet Sovereignty
The Russian government has stated that it will not allow OneWeb, the U.S. satellite communications start-up building a 900-satellite megaconstellation, to provide satellite broadband Internet in Russia, citing national security concerns that the company might provide access to an open Internet that is out Moscow’s control.
Read More »Belarus State University’s BSUSat-1 Successfully Launched From China
Belarus State University's BSUSat-1 was successfully launched by a Chinese Long March 2C satellite launch vehicle on Monday, 29 October 2018, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Northwest China.
Read More »U.S. Accuses Russia Of Developing Antisatellite Laser, Other Counterspace Weapons
The United States has accused Russia at the United Nations of developing a range of anti satellite (ASAT) weapons, to include air-launched missiles, lasers, and satellites capable of rendezvousing with their targets in orbit, despite Moscow’s attempts to introduce a proposed treaty that would ban such weapons.
Read More »Pakistan To Send Astronaut Into Orbit By 2022 With Chinese Help
Pakistan announced on 25 October 2018 that it will send an astronaut into orbit by 2022 with the help of China, weeks after its arch-geopolitical rival India announced the start of its own human spaceflight programme, Gaganyaan, in cooperation with Russia, France, and other countries.
Read More »Russia May Resume Rokot-2 Launches In 2021 With Russian-Made Control Systems
Russian launch provider Eurokot has suggested that its Rokot-2 light launcher could resume service in 2021 now that the launch vehicle uses Russian-made control systems. The last Rokot-2 launch occurred in April 2018 using the last launcher that used Ukrainian-made control systems.
Read More »South Korea Postpones KSLV-II Engine Test Due To Fuel Pressurization Problem
The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) has announced that it is postponing the planned engine test of its Korean Space Launch Vehicle-II (KSLV-II) rocket engine after a pre-test check found a problem with the engine's propellant pressurization system.
Read More »AzerCosmos Courted By Airbus In French Race For Central Asian Satellite Market
Airbus Defence and Space has offered to build capacity in and boost the Azerbaijani space industry, according to Airbus Vice-President for Eurasia Silvere Delaunay.
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