Tag Archives: Space Exploration

TeamIndus secure their journey to space with commercial launch contract The only Indian team competing for the Google Lunar XPRIZE, TeamIndus, has taken a crucial step forward to making their dream of soft-landing a spacecraft on the Moon, a reality. The Team has signed a verified commercial launch contract with …

Space Systems Loral (SSL), a leading provider of innovative satellites and spacecraft systems, announced on 16 November 2016 that it will work with Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) to support the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology’s Master Concentration in Space Systems and Technology in the United Arab Emirates. …

The UK space sector has made great strides over the past several years, and has established a strong network of partnerships throughout the Middle East. Yet the British decision to exit the European Union poses many challenges for the UK space and satellite industry. SpaceWatch Middle East contributing editor Helen Jameson examines …

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has participated in the World Space Risk Forum (WSRF) 2016, a global event that brings together a large number of international experts and specialists in the field of space industry from around the world. During the opening session, the forum rewarded MBRSC with …

Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum reviewed the designs of the Hope Probe, as part of the Emirates Mars Mission, on 2 November 2016. The project will send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 marking …

The U.S.$30M Google Lunar XPRIZE is an unprecedented competition to challenge and inspire engineers and entrepreneurs from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration. To win the Google Lunar XPRIZE, a privately funded team must successfully place a robot on the Moon’s surface that explores at …

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 …

ESA’s historic Rosetta mission has concluded as planned, with the controlled impact onto the comet it had been investigating for more than two years. Confirmation of the end of the mission arrived at ESA’s control centre in Darmstadt, Germany at 11:19 GMT (13:19 CEST) with the loss of Rosetta’s signal …

The UAE Space Agency has been inducted into the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) during the 2016 International Astronautical Congress being held in Guadalajara, Mexico, held 26-30 September 2016. The IAF is a non-profit non-governmental organisation set up in 1951 under French law. Its structure is laid out in the IAF …

Bern, 27 September 2016 – Rosetta is set to complete its mission in a controlled descent to the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 30 September 2016. The University of Bern, which played an important role namely with on-board instruments such as Rosina, is organising a farewell event on Friday 30 September as …