Orbital Space
Orbital Space (Arabic: الفضاء المداري) is a Kuwaiti private company aiming to drive the establishment of space sector in Kuwait. The company was incorporated in August 2018 as the first private company in the Arab region to enable students' access to space (low earth orbits). Orbital Space initiatives were recognized by SatellitePro ME with the “SPACE INITIATIVE OF THE YEAR 2019 AWARD".[1]
Initiatives[edit]
Orbital Space introduced several initiatives to promote space technology among students and encourage them to take part in space activities[2].
TSCK Experiment in Space[edit]
Orbital Space in collaboration the Scientific Center of Kuwait (TSCK) introduced for the first time in Kuwait the opportunity for students to send a science experiment to space. The objectives of this initiative was to allow students to learn about (1) how science space missions are done; (2) microgravity (weightlessness) environment; (3) how to do science like a real scientist. This opportunity was made possible through Orbital Space agreement with DreamUp PBC and Nanoracks LLC, which are collaborating with NASA under a Space Act Agreement[3]. The students' experiment was named "Kuwait’s Experiment: E.coli Consuming Carbon Dioxide to Combat Climate Change"[4]. The experiment has been manifested on SpaceX CRS-21 (SpX-21) spaceflight to the International Space Station (ISS) on October 30th, 2020. One of the astronauts (member of the ISS Expedition 64) is expected to conduct the experiment on behalf of the students.
Code in Space[edit]
To increase awareness about current opportunities and to encourage solutions to challenges faced by the satellite industry, Orbital Space in collaboration with the Space Challenges Program[5] and EnduroSat[6] introduced an international online students programming opportunity called "Code in Space". This opportunity allows students from around the world to send and execute their own code in space[7]. The code is transmitted from a satellite ground station to a cubesat (nanosatellite) orbiting earth 450 km above sea level. The code is then executed by the satellite’s onboard computer and tested under real space environment conditions. The nanosatellite is called "QMR-KWT" (Arabic: قمر الكويت) which means “Moon of Kuwait”, translated from Arabic. QMR-KWT is scheduled to be launched to space in February 2021[8] on SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket. It is planned to have QMR-KWT shuttled to its final destination (Sun-synchronous orbit) via Vigoride orbit transfer vehicle by Momentus Space. QMR-KWT is Kuwait's first satellite[9].
Um Alaish 4[edit]
Seven years after the launch of the world's first communications satellite, Telstar 1, Kuwait inaugurated in October 1969 one of the first satellite ground stations in the Middle East about 70 km north of Kuwait City in an area called “Um Alaish”[10]. The Um Alaish satellite station complex housed several satellite ground stations including Um Alaish 1 (1969), Um Alaish 2 (1977), Um Alaish 3 (1981). It provided satellite communication services in Kuwait until 1990 when it was destroyed by the Iraqi armed forces during the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait[11]. In 2019, Orbital Space established an amateur satellite ground station to provide free access to signals from satellites in orbit passing over Kuwait. The station was named Um Alaish 4 to continue the legacy of “Um Alaish” satellite station[12]. Um Alaish 4 is member of FUNcube distributed ground station network[13] and the Satellite Networked Open Ground Station project (SatNOGS)[14]
References[edit]
- ↑ "ASBU BroadcastPro ME Summit & Awards". Retrieved 2020-07-31.
- ↑ "Exploring a new space opportunity in Kuwait with Orbital Space". SatellitePro ME. 2019-12-11. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
- ↑ "Space Month". services.tsck.org.kw. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
- ↑ "Experiment In Space". ORBITAL SPACE. Retrieved 2020-08-01.
- ↑ "Space Challenges Program | www.spaceedu.net". Space Challenges. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ "EnduroSat - Class-leading CubeSat Modules, NanoSats & Space Services". CubeSat by EnduroSat. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ "Code In Space!". ORBITAL SPACE. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ "2021 in spaceflight", Wikipedia, 2020-07-31, retrieved 2020-08-02
- ↑ "Momentus and EnduroSat sign two launch agreements". SpaceNews. 2020-06-16. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ Kuwait News Agency, KUNA (2001-10-28). "UM AL-AISH" SATELLITE STATION, THE FIRST IN THE MIDDLE EAST". Retrieved 2020-08-02. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Kuwait scraps obsolete satellite station". ArabianBusiness.com. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ "Um AlAish 4". ORBITAL SPACE. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ "Ranking · AMSAT-UK Data Warehouse". warehouse.funcube.org.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
- ↑ "SatNOGS Network - Ground Station Um Alaish 4". network.satnogs.org. Retrieved 2020-08-02.
External links[edit]
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