Monthly Archives: February 2021

Earlier this month, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) became the first Middle East country to successfully send a spacecraft into orbit around Mars and only the fifth country to do so.

The Amal probe, or "Hope" in English, was launched on 19 July 2020 and reached the Red Planet on 9 February. It carries three instruments that will be able to understand the Martian atmosphere.

On Monday, it beamed back its first picture of the planet, a product of the UAE's rapid entrance into the space sector in recent years.

UAE becomes fifth country to send satellite to Mars

Amal's success has helped rekindle memories of space programmes developed by other countries in the region.

Over half of the countries in the MENA (Middle East and Africa) region have, or have had, government space programme.

"While the UAE has positioned itself as the regional leader in space, other countries are also increasing their level of investment and ambition in space programmes," said Simon Seminari, principal adviser at Euroconsult, a consulting firm specialising in space markets.

Space spending in the MENA region has nearly doubled in the past decade, from a total of $755m in 2010 to nearly $1.3bn in 2020, according to Euroconsult's market intelligence report on government space programmes.

The roots of modern space exploration in the region date back to the early 1960s.

"In the Middle East, fascination with space exploration is a phenomenon of post-World War II," said Dr Jorg Matthias Determann, associate professor of history, science, technology and society at Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar.

Determann recounts how Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser began to develop a national space programme in the early 1960s with the help of German expertise but which was shelved as a result of the 1967 war with Israel.

Despite that setback, Egypt has set a record in North Africa over the past three decades, launching nine satellites into space, with the main purpose of communication and TV broadcasting.

The African Union decided to create a space agency in 2017 headquartered in Egypt, which is supposed to be up and running in 2023.

"Conflicts in the Middle East encouraged countries in the region to invest in defence and rocket developments to get a qualitative edge over their neighbours," said Determann.

"Space programmes are also useful because they can hide rocket programmes and give them another form of legitimacy."

The success of space initiatives in the Middle East has varied in recent years as various countries have each shown a new dynamism and interest in the subject.

One of the first scientific experiments for space exploration in the Middle East was conducted in Lebanon from 1960 until 1964.

The country hosted the first civilian space programme thanks to a group of students from Beirut's Haigazian College who established a rocket society for scientific purposes.

Led by Professor Manoug Manougian, the Haigazian College Rocket Society (HCRS) launched several rockets during the period. Following the first launch, the Lebanese army cooperated with the HCRS.

"Every rocket launch was an event in Lebanon. It became a national phenomenon," said Mira Yardemian, public relations director at Haigazian University

"In 1963, around 15,000 people attended the launch of Cedar rocket IV, which reached a 140km altitude."

Lebanon even commemorated the event with a postage stamp.

But when Professor Manougian returned to the United States, the project ended, with the Lebanese army wanting to develop rockets for military purposes and both Manougian and the Haigazian College preferring to stick to scientific research.

To see the first Arab in space, the Middle East had to wait until 1985.

Saudi Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud became the first Arab to fly in space thanks to Nasa's Space Shuttle programme Discovery in 1985.

Saudi Arabia also became the main shareholder of the Arab Satellite Communications Organisation, also known as Arabsat, a communications satellite operator created to deliver satellite-based, public and private telecommunications services to its 21 member countries.

The kingdom's interest in space exploration was reignited in 2018, with the appointment of Prince Sultan as the chairman of the Saudi Space Commission.

Saudi Arabia has said it is plans to invest $2.1bn in its space programme by 2030.

Syrian military aviator Mohammed al-Fares became the second Arab in space two years after Prince Sultan.

In the 1980s, Syria sent Fares to the Soviet Union, from where he eventually flew as a research cosmonaut in the Interkosmos programme to the Mir space station in July 1987, spending almost eight days in space.

'When I was in space, I saw life from a different perspective because when you are in outer space everything is different'

- Mohammed Al-Fares, Syrian cosmonaut

"I went through 13 scientific experiments and conducted physical and chemical tests," said Fares.

"Also, I took some pictures of Earth from space to see the impact of air and water pollution.

"Furthermore, I had a machine built in Syria to study the different layers of the Earth sky up to 200km altitude."

Fares was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 30 July 1987. He was also given the Order of Lenin.

"When I was in space, I saw life from a different perspective because when you are in outer space everything is different," said Fares.

"Your body feels it is in an abnormal condition. But when I came back from space, I felt I had more empathy. I felt that Earth was like my mother. And we have to save it."

Like Egypt, another country that had to stop its space programme due to political turmoil in the region was former president Saddam Husseins Iraq.

Iraq's space programme lasted from 1988 until 1990 when it developed a solar-powered satellite, named Al-Ta'ir (Bird). In 1989, it launched a 25-metre-long rocket from a launchpad near Baghdad.

The following year it planned a second launch test named Al Kharief (Autumn), but the August 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait led to the suspension of all activities.

In 1988, Saddam had commissioned a space gunfrom the Canadian inventor and leading artillery expert Gerald Bull, who received a $25m down-payment. The Babylon Project was designed to produce a cannon aimed at shooting satellites into orbit.

Although he was able to deliver a shorter prototype of the cannon, named Baby Babylon, the project was halted following Bull's assassination in 1990, a killing attributed to Israeli intelligence.

With rocketry developments clearly having potential for non-peaceful applications, Iran's space programme, established in 2003, has been criticised by the US and Europe because of its military potential.

Iran has launched four research satellites and tested two space rockets, while claiming in 2013 that it had sent a monkey into space.

Unlike other countries in the region, Israel is one of the seven countries that have built satellites and launchers on their own.

The Israeli National Committee for Space Research (NCSR) was established by the government in 1960, and a space agency was formed in 1983. The agency, which develops satellites for reconnaissance and commercial purposes, is working on several projects, including space research.

Aliens exist and Trump knows it, says former head of Israeli space programme

Besides the national agency, the privately funded Israeli organization SpaceIL launched a lander named Beresheet that entered the moon's orbit on 4 April 2019. A week later, during its landing procedure, communications were lost with Beresheet, and the lander crashed on the moon.

Now, with the this month's Mars mission success, the eyes of the global space industry are firmly on the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA), which was established in 2014.

Its scientists will study Martian weather cycles, weather events in the lower atmosphere, and provide information about atmospheric hydrogen and oxygen loss and other possible reasons that have led to radical climate changes on Mars.

The agency, which has garnered about $5.2bn of funding from government, private and semi-private entities, also aims to send a compact lunar rover, dubbed Rashid, to study the moon in 2024.

Other countries in the region are developing research and space programmes, including Turkey, which this month announced a 10-year programme that includes a mission to the moon by 2023. The first stage of the mission would be "through international cooperation," while the second stage would utilize Turkish rockets, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on 9 February.

Countries in the Middle East have launched more than 20 satellites in the past few years, with many more in the planning phases. Oman aims to launch its first satellite in 2024.

Meanwhile, Euroconsult's Seminari said the new race for space propelled in recent years by western space agencies and private companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX has had a positive impact on countries in the Middle East.

"There are many reasons which help explain this interest and dynamism, amongst which includes the desire to reduce reliance on oil and gas resources and diversify the economy," said Seminari.

The success of the UAE space programme seems to have boosted enthusiasm for investing in space and experts expect the strong dynamism of the Middle East in space to continue.

Seminari said there is also continuing hype in the commercial space economy, which Euroconsult valued at more than $300bn in 2020.

REVEALED: Turkey plans spaceport in Somalia for $1bn moon mission

"Investments by governments in space can increase business opportunities, and foster innovation, technological developments, and the creation of startups and businesses," said Seminari.

Such interest in space may also inspire young people to gain degrees in several fields, including science, engineering, maths and technology, raising the overall human capacity of the country's population.

However, Determann said that international cooperation is essential for a successful space programme.

"What is still lacking in the region is the international expertise, which is hugely needed," he said.

"Even a country like the United States needs foreign expertise to develop its space programme. The Emirates Mars mission needed American expertise."

In terms of scientific research, former Syrian astronaut Fares thinks that any discovery outside Earth will be useful for humanity.

"I hope the UAE Mars mission will come back with positive results and that they will find something beneficial for Earth," he said.

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'Investment and ambition': A history of Middle Eastern space exploration - Middle East Eye

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) Gov. Kay Ivey released a statement following the Inspector Generals decision to name the Redstone Region a preferred location for Space Command headquarters.

Alabama welcomes the Inspector Generals review of the decision to name the Redstone Region the preferred location for the permanent headquarters for Space Command, a decision made after a thorough review, and a selection process was conducted. Our state was chosen based on merit, and an independent review of a decision of this magnitude will confirm this. We remain confident that just as the Air Force discovered, Huntsvilles Redstone Region will provide our warfighters with the greatest space capability at the best value to the taxpayers.

Alabama has played an integral role throughout the history of our nations defense and civil space programs. Deep Space Exploration is part of our DNA in Alabama, from building the rockets to first take man to the moon, to producing the Atlas V rocket that took the Perseverance Rover to Mars just last week! Alabama is winning on every page when it comes to furthering our nations space exploration and defense and we are a natural fit for the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command.

This update comes after Huntsville was named among other cities as a possible location for its headquarters. Redstone Arsenal was chosen out of 60 sites across the U.S. as the best location for the space command headquarters.

Excerpt from:

Ivey: We are a natural fit for the permanent headquarters of U.S. Space Command - WKRG News 5

NASA's Perseverance Rover Lands Successfully on Mars: After a seven-month-long journey, NASAs Perseverance Rover successfully touched down on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021. Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California celebrate landing NASA's fifth -- and most ambitious -- rover on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech Download video

The agencys latest and most complex mission to the Red Planet has touched down at Jezero Crater. Now its time to begin testing the health of the rover.

The largest, most advanced rover NASA has sent to another world touched down on Mars Thursday, after a 203-day journey traversing 293 million miles (472 million kilometers). Confirmation of the successful touchdown was announced in mission control at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California at 3:55 p.m. EST (12:55 p.m. PST).

Packed with groundbreaking technology, the Mars 2020 mission launched July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The Perseverance rover mission marks an ambitious first step in the effort to collect Mars samples and return them to Earth.

This landing is one of those pivotal moments for NASA, the United States, and space exploration globally when we know we are on the cusp of discovery and sharpening our pencils, so to speak, to rewrite the textbooks, said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission embodies our nations spirit of persevering even in the most challenging of situations, inspiring, and advancing science and exploration. The mission itself personifies the human ideal of persevering toward the future and will help us prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

About the size of a car, the 2,263-pound (1,026-kilogram) robotic geologist and astrobiologist will undergo several weeks of testing before it begins its two-year science investigation of Mars Jezero Crater. While the rover will investigate the rock and sediment of Jezeros ancient lakebed and river delta to characterize the regions geology and past climate, a fundamental part of its mission is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. To that end, the Mars Sample Return campaign, being planned by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency), will allow scientists on Earth to study samples collected by Perseverance to search for definitive signs of past life using instruments too large and complex to send to the Red Planet.

Because of todays exciting events, the first pristine samples from carefully documented locations on another planet are another step closer to being returned to Earth, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA. Perseverance is the first step in bringing back rock and regolith from Mars. We dont know what these pristine samples from Mars will tell us. But what they could tell us is monumental including that life might have once existed beyond Earth.

Some 28 miles (45 kilometers) wide, Jezero Crater sits on the western edge of Isidis Planitia, a giant impact basin just north of the Martian equator. Scientists have determined that 3.5 billion years ago the crater had its own river delta and was filled with water.

The power system that provides electricity and heat for Perseverance through its exploration of Jezero Crater is a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provided it to NASA through an ongoing partnership to develop power systems for civil space applications.

Equipped with seven primary science instruments, the most cameras ever sent to Mars, and its exquisitely complex sample caching system the first of its kind sent into space Perseverance will scour the Jezero region for fossilized remains of ancient microscopic Martian life, taking samples along the way.

Perseverance is the most sophisticated robotic geologist ever made, but verifying that microscopic life once existed carries an enormous burden of proof, said Lori Glaze, director of NASAs Planetary Science Division. While well learn a lot with the great instruments we have aboard the rover, it may very well require the far more capable laboratories and instruments back here on Earth to tell us whether our samples carry evidence that Mars once harbored life.

Paving the Way for Human Missions

Landing on Mars is always an incredibly difficult task and we are proud to continue building on our past success, said JPL Director Michael Watkins. But, while Perseverance advances that success, this rover is also blazing its own path and daring new challenges in the surface mission. We built the rover not just to land but to find and collect the best scientific samples for return to Earth, and its incredibly complex sampling system and autonomy not only enable that mission, they set the stage for future robotic and crewed missions.

The Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2 (MEDLI2) sensor suite collected data about Mars atmosphere during entry, and the Terrain-Relative Navigation system autonomously guided the spacecraft during final descent. The data from both are expected to help future human missions land on other worlds more safely and with larger payloads.

On the surface of Mars, Perseverances science instruments will have an opportunity to scientifically shine. Mastcam-Z is a pair of zoomable science cameras on Perseverances remote sensing mast, or head, that creates high-resolution, color 3D panoramas of the Martian landscape. Also located on the mast, the SuperCam uses a pulsed laser to study the chemistry of rocks and sediment and has its own microphone to help scientists better understand the property of the rocks, including their hardness.

Located on a turret at the end of the rovers robotic arm, the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) and the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC) instruments will work together to collect data on Mars geology close-up. PIXL will use an X-ray beam and suite of sensors to delve into a rocks elemental chemistry. SHERLOCs ultraviolet laser and spectrometer, along with its Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and eNgineering (WATSON) imager, will study rock surfaces, mapping out the presence of certain minerals and organic molecules, which are the carbon-based building blocks of life on Earth.

The rover chassis is home to three science instruments, as well. Radar Imager for Mars Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) is the first ground-penetrating radar on the surface of Mars and will be used to determine how different layers of the Martian surface formed over time. The data could help pave the way for future sensors that hunt for subsurface water ice deposits.

Also with an eye on future Red Planet explorations, the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) technology demonstration will attempt to manufacture oxygen out of thin air the Red Planets tenuous and mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere. The rovers Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument, which has sensors on the mast and chassis, will provide key information about present-day Mars weather, climate, and dust.

Currently attached to the belly of Perseverance, the diminutive Ingenuity Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration that will attempt the first powered, controlled flight on another planet.

Project engineers and scientists will now put Perseverance through its paces, testing every instrument, subsystem, and subroutine over the next month or two. Only then will they deploy the helicopter to the surface for the flight test phase. If successful, Ingenuity could add an aerial dimension to exploration of the Red Planet in which such helicopters serve as a scouts or make deliveries for future astronauts away from their base.

Once Ingenuitys test flights are complete, the rovers search for evidence of ancient microbial life will begin in earnest.

Perseverance is more than a rover, and more than this amazing collection of men and women that built it and got us here, said John McNamee, project manager of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission at JPL. It is even more than the 10.9 million people who signed up to be part of our mission. This mission is about what humans can achieve when they persevere. We made it this far. Now, watch us go.

More About the Mission

A primary objective for Perseverances mission on Mars is astrobiology research, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past climate and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA, will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASAs Moon to Mars approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter technology demonstration for NASA.

For more about Perseverance:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

and

https://nasa.gov/perseverance

News Media ContactsAlana Johnson / Grey HautaluomaNASA Headquarters, Washington202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov / grey.hautaluoma-1@nasa.gov

DC AgleJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-9011agle@jpl.nasa.gov

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Touchdown! NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration