RIYADH, 10 March 2006 — As part of an ambitious plan to promote space technology for commercial purposes, the Kingdom is preparing to launch six new satellites this year, said Prince Turki ibn Saud, vice president of the research institutes at the King Abdul Aziz City for Science and Technology (KACST). These satellites have been designed and fabricated by a team of Saudi scientists at the KACST’s Institute of Space Research here.
“Five of the six satellites have been built for communications purposes and will be for commercial use, while the sixth spacecraft will be mainly utilized for earth observation,” said Prince Turki, who has played a pioneering role in promoting a world-class space program in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia had previously launched a few experimental satellites with an aim of testing their commercial viability. The prince said that amateur scientists in universities worldwide are utilizing these Saudi satellites for their own projects.
“Now we think that the technology developed at KACST is highly reliable and is ready for commercial use,” said the prince. He also mentioned the long-term plan spearheaded by KACST researchers to create an aerospace industry with a focus on satellite-technology in the Kingdom.
Prince Turki said the satellites would be launched from the historic Russian space center of Baikonur in Kazakhstan. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov has already signed a resolution on the launch.
Asked about any proposal to set up its own launch site, Prince Turki said that Saudi Arabia had no plans to develop its own facility. “This is not feasible and most of the countries including Europe approach the Russians, who are well geared to cater to this market,” said the prince.
Asked about new plans and projects, he said that KACST was looking at new projects to develop important technologies in strategic areas, including water desalination, petroleum, IT, aerospace, bio- and nanotechnology, environment and energy.
“We have government approval for a 20-year strategic development plan,” he said. “The Kingdom is keen to develop nanotechnology, which holds immense potential in the future. The KACST under this initiative had recently set up a National Nanotechnology Center and most of the research work is directed toward this area of technology.”
“If a scientist studies the matter at this scale, it enables him to change and control the properties of the matter and develop a whole range of different kinds of compact materials with higher efficiency and capacity,” said Prince Turki.
He also pointed out that the KACST is also setting up a communications-technology R&D center to help the entrepreneurs to develop their own businesses.
