Dubai - The UAE Space Agency was formed on July 16, 2014, and several projects have been launched since then.
Published: Sun 15 Jul 2018, 9:00 PM
Updated: Mon 16 Jul 2018, 12:09 AM
The UAE Space Agency will mark its fourth anniversary on July 16, 2018 and the country's space sector has already seen a lot of improvements and changes, according to a senior official.
Sheikha Al Maskari, Chief Innovation Officer at the UAE Space Agency, spoke to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of a press briefing that was held to announce details of the first Nasa-curriculum space camp which is taking place in Dubai.
The UAE Space Agency was formed on July 16, 2014, and several projects have been launched since then, including sending an unmanned spacecraft, called Hope, to orbit Mars, the first Emirati astronaut corps of four will be chosen this year and one of them will head to space in April. Also, the UAE announced to build an entire colony on Mars by 2117.
"It's been an amazing journey for the UAE Space Agency so far. We're celebrating our anniversary on July 16. It's a time to contemplate about everything we have achieved. So far, the space programmes have flourished in very little time. In only four years we have seen a lot of changes in the space sector - we have a mission to Mars, the astronaut programme, the Mars scientific city, the 100-year-plan for the Mars colony. These are exciting times and education throughout the whole period is very important," Al Maskari said.
Al Maskari said that teaching the youth about space has become essential as it will help prepare professionals for the country's thriving space industry.
"It's not just a journey of reaching Mars, the actual journey is the education part. There are so many things happening and we want everyone to be involved. I'm very excited for these kids and I love seeing the light in their eyes. They're very excited. I spoke to a couple of them already and there is hope. It is possible that one of the kids attending the space camp can be one of our astronauts in the future," she said.
Camp for students
The UAE-based firm Compass International is organising the Space and Rocketry Space Camp Academy, in collaboration with the UAE Space Agency, from July 15 to August 23.
Senior Nasa officials will be guest lecturing at the camp, including Dr Jim Rice, who has worked for the US space agency for 30 years on their Mars and moon missions.
Students at the Space and Rocketry Camp will learn basic rocket aerodynamics, designing the model rocket, mission patch design and presentation, tasting space food for astronauts, know-hows of living and working in space and Mars, mission to Mars and take part in an engineering design challenge.
Students will also be able to interact and send questions to the commander of the current in space on the International Space Station, astronaut Drew Feustel. On Sunday, students were asked to produce a question to ask the commander. They will receive the responses via email later on into the camp.
Dr Rice, the Nasa geology team leader and co-investigator on the Nasa Mars Exploration Rover Project Science Team, said he will be teaching the students about the different kinds of rockets needed to reach Mars.
"I am going to be talking about what we've been learning from our rovers that are on Mars and also how to get to Mars, how to design a mission to Mars, you need certain type of rockets, you need lander's, special space suits, and how you can only go to Mars certain times of the year," he said.
Opportunity will survive dust storm on red plant
A senior Nasa expert is optimistic that their Mars-based Opportunity rover will survive the massive dust storm that has enveloped the Red Planet for nearly two months.
It's been exactly five weeks since Nasa hasn't heard from Opportunity, which landed on Mars in January, 2004, and takes photos of different sites on the Red Planet. It has helped Nasa with some major scientific discoveries, including providing photos of rocks and soil that suggest water activity once existed on Mars. The current dust storms have caused Opportunity to go into low-power mode and has not sent any signals to Nasa.
Dr Jim Rice, Nasa geology team leader and co-investigator on the Nasa Mars Exploration Rover Project Science Team, said that it could possibly take months for the dust storm to subside, however, he remains optimistic that Opportunity will make it through.
"This dust storm has been going since end of May and it's still going pretty strong. We've almost in the middle of July and we haven't heard from our rover in five weeks. We know that the Martian dust storms happen but this one happened kind of early in the spring season and they usually happen in the summer time," Dr Rice told Khaleej Times, who is in Dubai this week as a guest lecturer at the Space and Rocketry Camp being held by Compass International, in collaboration with the UAE Space Agency.
"If we had the Hope mission there (UAE's upcoming unmanned space craft), which would mostly look at the Martian weather conditions, it would help us refine our models to predict if these things are going to happen and understand how they get started. We understand a little bit about dust storms on Mars and it's going to be really important when we send people to Mars to know what's about to happen. You can predict the weather forecast here and you can prepare. This storm came out of nowhere and it swelled up to cover the whole planet. The planet is still shrouding in dust till this day."
Dr Rice said the main concern is that if the weather conditions on Mars get too cold for Opportunity to handle.
"It's a delicate dance we're doing, but, I'm still optimistic we'll still survive it. Who knows when it's going to be over because the storm has been going on for months and it takes a lot of time for the dust to get out of there. I think we have a long road ahead of us to see what's going to happen - weeks, if not months," he said.
'Space spying' force not something new
A Space Force already exists within the US as the defence department of the United States and other nations have been sending spy satellites into space for decades, a senior Nasa expert, Dr Jim Rice, has said.
Dr Rice's comments follow the recent news of US President Donald Trump's announcement of introducing a Space Force as the sixth branch of the US Armed Forces, which will aim to protect the nation's security and commercial interests. The US Congress has also directed the Pentagon to look into the idea of how this can be achieved.
"Nasa is a civilian space programme but the Space Forc, which is being talked about is already in existence because all nations' defence departments put up spy, weather and communications satellites. The United States has been doing it since the space age started. What he's (Trump) trying to do, in terms of what it sounds like to me, is centralise it into one area instead of having it spread out into the air force and navy," Dr Rice said.
"Because they (the defence department) put up their own satellites now for troop communications and movements, it's already been in existence. It hasn't been called the Space Force because the department of defence launches its own rockets and it's been doing that for decades for communication and navigation.
"To me, it's about centralising to a branch. But it's already been going on - Russia does it, China is launching their own. In the US, you have Nasa, which is civilian, and the department of defence. So, it's two different space programmes. But other countries do not separate them, for example Russia and China. It's not really anything new. Something new would be a centralised special branch of it."
The chief of Nasa, Jim Bridenstine, has recently voiced support for Trump's idea of a Space Force in an interview that is being widely picked up by international media.
Bridenstine said that the US should build a permanent infrastructure on the moon, as well as backed the idea that further security measures against commercial and national security is needed space. He said that space is an international domain which has commerce that needs to be protected.
"'Every banking transaction requires a GPS signal for timing. You lose the GPS signal and guess what you lose? You lose banking," Bridenstine said.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com
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