Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) signed a £25M contract in Beijing yesterday with Twenty First Century Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd (21AT) to provide data from a new Earth Observation satellite (SSTL-S1) due for launch on PSLV in the middle of this year. The contract was signed by Sir Martin Sweeting, Executive Chairman of SSTL, and Mme Wu Shuang, President and Chairman of 21AT, and witnessed by the UK Secretary of State, Dr Liam Fox.

Satellogic's recent agreement with a Chinese company to launch 90 commercial Earth observation satellites on five or six dedicated Long March rocket flights marks one of China's biggest wins in the global launch market.

The link between desertification, land degradation and climate change is among several issues occupying the attention of the 197 Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) for the next three days.

An amendment to the current Copernicus Agreement has been signed by the EU and ESA, adding €96 million to ESA's space component budget for the world's largest environmental monitoring programme: Copernicus.

China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) today announced a Multiple Launch Services Agreement (MLA) with Satellogic, the world's first vertically integrated geospatial analytics company. CGWIC will launch 90 of Satellogic's spacecraft from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The first launch – scheduled for later this year – will deliver a dedicated payload of 13 of Satellogic's spacecraft to Low Earth Orbit on a Long March 6 (LM-6) rocket.

Greenhouse gas monitoring was a hot topic at the American Meteorological Society's annual conference with international agencies discussing a global constellation and companies showing a new generation of sensors.

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) has awarded contracts to Ball Aerospace and Space Systems Loral to develop designs for a privately funded satellite to track methane emissions.

The European Union (EU) has awarded the HiSea consortium close to €2 million to develop, test and demonstrate information services that provide high resolution data of sea water quality.

Over the past two weeks, leaders from around the world gathered in Katowice (Poland) to discuss the state of play and future of the international agreements on climate change.

The ESA Council held its 277th meeting at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt on 12 and 13 December 2018.

Japanese startup Axelspace secured $22.8 million from investors to fund a constellation of specialised remote-sensing satellites.

With last month's release of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C , it has become even more apparent that current pledges fall short of limiting global warming to the objectives stated in the Paris Agreement.

According to the star-gazing horoscope aficionados, Leo is action-oriented, loves to be in the limelight and has a distinct strength, able to earn "king of the jungle" status. Applied to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, there are some similarities. There certainly is a lot of activity in LEO, and with it being such a buzz word, it's hard to not hear people within the industry talking about LEO. But is it destined to be the king of the stars? It seems we'll soon be finding out but for now, it certainly has some of the industry's big hitters getting involved.

The societal benefits of Arctic observation far outweigh the investment required to conduct it, according to a new study from the JRC.

The African Union Commission is Organizing the 1st forum of the GMES and Africa Programme, under the theme "Unlocking the Potential for Earth Observation as a key drivier of Africa's sustainable development". It will be held from 19 to 23 November 2018, in Libreville, Gabon.

The European Commission's role as Chair of CEOS has offered a remarkable opportunity to further advance CEOS priorities. The European Commission worked with the past chair USGS, the 2018-2019 Chair of the Strategic Implementation Team, NOAA, and the relevant stakeholders to ensure substantive and timely continuity of CEOS activities.

The Commerce Department plans to soon release a new rule designed to streamline licensing of commercial remote sensing systems with what one official called a "fundamentally different" approach for licensing.

In August, Airbus Intelligence, a key player in the global geospatial industry, announced its Zephyr high-altitude drone set a world record, remaining aloft for nearly 26 days while gathering high-resolution imagery of Arizona.

As a growing number of organizations propose satellites to monitor greenhouse gases, national space agencies who already operate such spacecraft welcome those new entrants — as long as they're willing to share their results.

HyperSat LLC emerged from stealth mode in September to announce it raised $85 million to launch two high-resolution hyperspectral imaging satellites in 2020.