Saudi Arabia to launch two aerial surveying satellites today

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) will launch two satellites for aerial surveying purposes on Friday.

The two satellites which are named “Saudi SAT 5A” and “Saudi SAT 5B” will be launched from China-based Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, according to Okaz newspaper.

On 4 October, KACST announced completing the manufacturing and development of “Saudi SAT 5A” and “Saudi SAT 5B” satellites.

This project is a part of Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Salman bin Abdulaziz's and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's efforts to raise the nation’s applied scientific research and development sector to contribute to achieving Saudi Vision 2030.

More on the satellites

Saudi expertise and competencies working in the field of satellite industry and development manufactured and tested the two satellites in accordance with the international standards in KACST laboratories.

“Saudi Sat 5” adds to the Kingdom’s list of accomplishments acquired in the fields of space and satellites. KACST also launched 13 satellites and participated in the exploration mission of “Changi 4” Satellite with the Chinese.

The university provided the advanced services for the remote-sensing system, and launched a developed system for satellite tracking and controlling of commercial ships. The system includes comprehensive daily coverage of ship traffic of up to 30,000 ships around the world.

According to the report, this national achievement comes as a result of the great support provided by King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman for research and development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in general and KACST in particular.