Dear <<First Name>>

It's been a bad week for the satellite communications industry when Israeli company Spacecom's Amos-6 was destroyed during a static engine fire test of the SpaceX Falcon-9 launch vehicle it was sitting upon blew up at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United States, on 1 September 2016. SpaceWatch Middle East will continue to report and analyse the implications of the loss of Amos-6 in the coming days and weeks.

The SpaceWatch Middle East team will be at the International Broadcast Conference in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, from 8-13 September 2016. If you are also attending please be sure to meet with us and say hello!

Over the past two weeks SpaceWatch Middle East reported on a number of exciting space developments throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Among the stories that caught our attention:

As always, we're on the lookout for contributors to SpaceWatch Middle East. If you have something to say about space and the Middle East, please contact us at office@spacewatchme.com .

In the meantime, follow our hashtag #SpaceWatchMe on Twitter and on our Facebook page, and read our stories, features, and interviews at www.spacewatchme.com. Among the other features and stories we published over the past two weeks are the following:

Middle Eastern Lunar Missions: the Role of the Moon in the Middle East’s Spacefaring Future

The Moon is rapidly becoming the destination of choice for space agencies and companies since it poses less technical and financial risk than going directly to Mars. ThorGroup GmbH’s intern in Washington, DC – Nickolas J. Boensch – explores the emerging ‘Moon Rush’ and the possible roles and opportunities for …

Challenges and Opportunities for a Kuwaiti Space Programme, Part I

As Kuwait considers its space future, SpaceWatch Middle East contributor Ghanim Alotaibi, a Kuwaiti engineer and Space Generation Advisory Council member, examines some of the challenges Kuwaiti leaders will have to address in the first of a series of articles that will be published in the coming weeks. Introduction Two years ago, a …

Israel’s Spacecom sale in jeopardy after SpaceX Falcon-9 explosion destroys Amos-6 payload

The sale of the Israeli commercial satellite communications company Spacecom to Chinese telecommunications company Beijing Xinwei Technology Group is now in jeopardy after Spacecom’s Amos-6 communications satellite was destroyed when a static engine test of a SpaceX Falcon-9 rocket went wrong at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, United …

UAE Cabinet approves UAE national space policy

The Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) approved the country’s national space policy during a session held in Abu Dhabi on 4 September 2016. The UAE national space policy will provide high-level political and strategic guidance to the UAE Space Agency and its efforts to establish the Emirates as …

Qatar’s Es’hail-2 launch delayed to 3rd Quarter of 2017

Qatar’s Es’hailSat has announced that it’s Es’hail-2 satellite will now be launched in the third quarter of 2017 rather than in December 2016 as originally planned. There has been no word as to why the launch date for Es’hail-2 has slipped by at least six months. Es’hail-2 will be launched …

Thank you very much your interest and your ongoing support.

Yours sincerely,

John Sheldon (Chairman and President),
Torsten Kriening (Chief Operating Officer)

of the SpaceWatch Middle East team.

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