JEDDAH, 13 June 2004 — Saudi Arabia will launch three new satellites using a Ukrainian rocket by the end of this month, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The satellites, named Saudi Comsat 1, 2, and 3, will be launched from Kazakhstan’s Baikonur Cosmodrome.
The Ukrainian rocket, Dnepr, had previously launched 12 satellites for Saudi Arabia, Britain, Italy, Malaysia, Germany and the United States, with 15 more planned for this year. Saudi Arabia uses the satellites for communications purposes.
The Kingdom has three satellites so far. The third one, which was put into the orbit on Dec. 21, 2002, was designed and made by a team of Saudi scientists at the Institute of Space Research in King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology.
It provides vital data on weather conditions and oil exploration and monitors the movement of vehicles in remote regions of the Kingdom.
The Kingdom was the second Arab country after Egypt to launch its own satellites. It has set up a Center for Remote Sensing and an Institute of Space Research, which provide remote sensing technology, including satellite imagery and data, for the public and private sectors. These images and data are vital to research in areas like agriculture, geology, cartography and natural disaster studies.
Baikonur Cosmodrome is the launch complex where Sputnik 1, the Earth’s first artificial satellite, was launched. The rocket that carried Yuri Gagarin, the first human in orbit, was also launched from Baikonur. The name Baikonur is misleading as the actual launch complex is about 200 miles southwest of the mining town near Tyuratam in Kazakhstan.
