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An exoplanet orbiting the young star Beta Pictoris, is seen in this artist's rendering courtesy of ESO L. Calçada/N. Risinger (skysurvey.org). This exoplanet is the first to have its rotation rate measured. Its eight-hour day corresponds to an equatorial rotation speed of 100,000 kilometers/hour, much faster than any planet in the Solar System. Image Credit: Reuters

Dubai: The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced on Wednesday that Nayif-1 has transmitted its first message in Arabic from space - a quote by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The quote that attracted worldwide attention: ‘‘The renaissance of peoples, nations and civilizations starts with education; and the future of nations starts at their schools’’

Ground stations all over the world that operate on amateur radio bands were able to receive the message.

The message was transmitted from Nayif-1’s ground station, located at the American University of Sharjah (AUS), under the supervision of a team of engineers from MBRSC and university professors.

Nayif-1 is an educational project that was launched on February 15, 2017, by MBRSC in cooperation with AUS, with the goal of providing hands-on experience to Emirati engineering students on designing, building, testing and operating nanosatellites.

The nanosatellite Nayif-1 was launched on board a PSLV-C37 rocket, from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.

Nayif-1’s main mission objective is to send and receive messages on Amateur Radio frequencies and stands out as the first 1U nanosatellite that is programmed to transfer text messages in the Arabic language.