Riyadh: King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) signed an agreement with the US space agency Nasa for collaboration in lunar and asteroid science research.
Under the agreement, Nasa will help the kingdom to establish the Saudi Lunar and Near-Earth Object Science Centre at the headquarters of the KACST in Riyadh, and the Centre will be an affiliate partner of the Nasa Lunar Science Institute at Nasa's Ames Research Centre in Moffett Field, California.
Dr Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammad Al Saud, vice-president for Research Institutes at the KACST, said that this agreement would lead to expand the Kingdom's collaboration with Nasa in lunar research field for the benefit of both the countries. "This collaboration is within the scope of the Memorandum of Understanding on Science and Technology signed between Saudi Arabia and the United States last year and later ratified by the Council of Ministers.
Focal point
"The international interest in lunar science and, more recently, near-Earth objects led to the establishment of the Saudi Lunar and Near Earth Object Science Centre as a focal point for lunar science and NEO studies in the Kingdom," he said in a statement, a copy of which was obtained by Gulf News.
For his part, Greg Schmidt, institute deputy director at Ames, said that Nasa's Lunar Science Institute deals with cutting-edge lunar science and exists to train the next generation of lunar scientists and explorers. "Our international partnerships are critical for meeting these objectives, and we are very excited by the important science, training and education that our new Saudi colleagues bring to the Nasa Lunar Science Institute," he said.
US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith sees this as an important advance in the growing programme of bilateral science and technology cooperation between Saudi Arabia and US. "It will help realise President Obama's goal, expressed in his June 4, 2009 speech to the Muslim world, of increasing our cooperation on science and technology, which we believe closely corresponds to King Abdullah's vision," he said.
