E-letter: Curated Content

China has announced its fourth launch center will be ready for use in two years.

Approximately 30 percent of the more than 280 new observational satellites expected to launch over the next decade, will probably come from countries with developing space programs, such as Kazakhstan and Vietnam.

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy aircraft (SOFIA) will be updated this summer to include Inmarsat communications technology.

China has announced its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is expected to reach full-scale global coverage in 2020.

Europeans satellite operations currently depend almost entirely on the United States when it comes to space debris surveillance and tracking information.

Bing Maps have been updated. Microsoft's digital maps service now feature a new base satellite image from TerraColor with a resolution of 15 meters per pixel.

A future iPhone with satellite capabilities could be the next development for Apple.

Astrium is seeking for a partner to develop its new geostationary Earth observation satellite, the GO-3S.

IT products and services provider Fujitsu has revealed a prototype for the “New Generation Cane,” which has GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity integrated into its structure.

A new group to support the “ever-increasing importance of GPS” has formed in Washington, D.C.