The Egyptian Council of Ministers approved on September 27, 2017, the establishment of a national space agency, according to the Egyptian Minister for Higher Education Khaled Abdel Ghaffar. The ruling by the Council of Ministers will now pass on to the Egyptian parliament for final agreement and made into law. …
Read More »UAE In Talks With Russia On Training Emirati Astronauts For International Space Station Missions
Russian news outlets TASS and Pravda are reporting that the UAE Space Agency and Roscosmos have held talks at the 68th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Adelaide, Australia, about training Emirati astronauts and then launching them from Russian soil to the International Space Station (ISS) as early as 2019. Sergey …
Read More »#SpaceWatchME Op’Ed: Strategic Implications of Iran’s Simorgh Space Launch Vehicle Test
Iran’s test launch of its Simorgh space launch vehicle (SLV) on July 27, 2017, caused significant yet unsurprising controversy throughout the international community. Two months later, with the dust literally settling, Natalie Fuchs – SpaceWatch Middle East’s contributing editor on all things Iranian space – argues that it is possible that the U.S., its …
Read More »Iran Reconsiders Human Spaceflight Policy, Seeks to Send Humans to Space by 2025
The head of Iran’s Astronautics Research Institute (ARI), Fathollah Ommi, has stated that Iran is “conducting research to send a man to space,” with the intent to be able to act on this research within eight years. Iran’s human spaceflight programme has had a series of fits and starts, most …
Read More »UAE Space Agency Discusses Collaboration With The International Astronautical Federation
A UAE Space Agency delegation, led by Chairman H.E. Dr. Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, met with the President of the International Astronautical Federation, Dr. Jean-Yves Le Gall, to discuss a range of opportunities for collaboration in space science, research and education. H.E. Al Falasi also highlighted the UAE’s interest in …
Read More »#SWMEThemes: China’s Space Silk Road and the Middle East – China’s New Silk Road and the Middle East in a Multipolar Space Order
In the second part of the SpaceWatch Middle East multi-week theme on China’s Space Silk Road and the Middle East, Dr. Bleddyn E. Bowen of King’s College London, probably the greatest space power theorist in Welsh history, makes the case that space powers in the Middle East have a cornucopia of choice …
Read More »#SWMEThemes: China’s Space Silk Road and the Middle East – What Is The Chinese Space Silk Road?
In Part One of this multi-week SpaceWatch Middle East Theme on the Chinese Space Silk Road and the Middle East, we invited Dr. Malcolm Davis of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) to provide an overview of the Space Silk Road for readers. The emergence of China’s Belt and Road …
Read More »#SWMEThemes: SWME Op’Ed – The Belt and Road Initiative: China’s Vision for Globalisation, Beijing-Style
Over the course of this coming week, SpaceWatch Middle East is running the first part of a multi-week theme on China’s Space Silk Road and the Middle East. Today, as a scene setter, Benjamin Habib and Viktor Faulknor of LaTrobe University in Australia, provide an overview of China’s Belt and Road …
Read More »Israel’s Gilat Reports Continued and Improved Profitability in Second Quarter of 2017
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, reported on August 8, 2017, its results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2017. Key Financial Highlights: Revenues for Q2 2017 were $66.2 million compared with $63.9 million in Q1 2017 and $67.9 million in …
Read More »Israel’s Gilat Propels the Russian DTH Market into Broadband Services
Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., a worldwide leader in satellite networking technology, solutions and services, announces that NTV-Plus has selected the broadband service developed by Eutelsat Networks and powered by Gilat’s high-performance VSATs to offer high-speed Internet to DTH subscribers across the European part of the Russian Federation. Gilat’s satellite solution …
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