Saudi Arabia’s two satellites finally launched into space
Soyuz 2.1a rocket took off with 38 satellites from 18 countries, including UAE
Dubai: Two Saudi satellites have been successfully launched today (Monday) into space onboard a Russian Soyuz rocket, which was carrying 38 foreign satellites in total, local media reported.
The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) announced the successful launch of the “Shaheen Sat” satellite from Baikonur base in Kazakhstan on board Russian rocket Soyuz 2, after two days of delay due to some technical fault, local media reported.
The satellite is dedicated to photographing Earth and tracking ships from low orbits. Shaheen Sat is a new generation of small size satellites and includes the load of high-resolution imaging telescope and a load for tracking marine ships.
Developed and manufactured in a short period of time, Shaheen Sat is characterized by an imaging accuracy of up to 0.9 metres, a weight not exceeding 75 kg and dimensions up to 56 x 56 x 97 cm.
Shaheen Sat was developed by a Saudi team of engineering specialists in cooperation with KACST partners. It provides satellite images to government and private sectors to serve the Kingdom’s development goals as it also works to track marine vessels by employing artificial intelligence techniques and big data.
The other satellite was from the King Saud University, which is the first Saudi university to launch a CubeSat cube satellite with a size of (10 * 10 * 10) cm and a weight of 1kg. It also has a ground station that can communicate with small and large satellites and the International Space Station.
The Soyuz 2.1a rocket launched into space with 38 satellites from 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Russian space agency Roscosmos announced on Monday.
The UAE’s nanometric environment satellite will measure air pollutant sources across the country, and help the Dubai Municipality and Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre create a nation-wide air quality map.
Tunisia is the third Arab country to send a satellite onboard the rocket. The Challenge-1 is the first satellite made completely in the North African country.