Saudi Arabia launches 2 satellites
China launches rover for 1st far side of moon landing
RIYADH, Dec 8, (Agencies): Saudi Arabia has successfully launched two satellites – Saudi Sat 5A and Saudi Sat 5B satellites – on the Long March 2D from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center of the People’s Republic of China, official media reported Friday.
This accomplishment is due to the support and guidance of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and the followup of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud, President of King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology Prince Turki bin Saud stated, according to Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The achievement also comes as a complement to several accomplishments in fields of space and aviation, which is in line with the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision, Prince Turki added.
It is also the result of the efforts made by KACST over years in transferring and enhancing many advanced technologies, including satellite, construction of national cadres capable of dealing with such technologies, and establishment of advanced infrastructure to enable the city to develop and manufacture satellites (Saudi Sat 5A and Saudi Sat 5B) in its national hands factories.
These two satellites are to be used to provide government agencies with high-resolution satellite images similar to those in developed countries for use in various fields of development.
They will also be managed and operated from an advanced control station inside KACST’s headquarters.
KACST has already launched 13 Saudi satellites between 2000 and 2017.
It also participated in the implementation of scientific experiments in outer space in cooperation with the US space agency (NASA) and Stanford University on board the Saudi Sat 4 satellite in 2014.
China launched a rover early Saturday destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower, state media said.
The Chang’e-4 lunar probe mission – named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology – launched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern Xichang launch centre at 2:23 am (1823 GMT), according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The blast-off marked the start of a long journey to the far side of the moon for the Chang’e-4 mission, expected to land around the New Year to carry out experiments and survey the untrodden terrain.
“Chang’e-4 is humanity’s first probe to land on and explore the far side of the moon,” said the mission’s chief commander He Rongwei of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the main state-owned space contractor.
“This mission is also the most meaningful deep space exploration research project in the world in 2018,” He said, according to state-run Global Times.
Unlike the near side of the moon that is “tidally locked” and always faces the earth, and offers many flat areas to touch down on, the far side is mountainous and rugged.
NASA’s new Mars lander has captured the first sounds of the “really unworldly” Martian wind.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory released audio clips of the alien wind Friday. The low-frequency rumblings were collected by the InSight lander during its first week of operations at Mars.
The wind is estimated to be blowing 10 mph to 15 mph (16 kph to 24 kph). These are the first sounds from Mars that are detectible by human ears, according to the researchers.
“Reminds me of sitting outside on a windy summer afternoon ... In some sense, this is what it would sound like if you were sitting on the InSight lander on Mars,” Cornell University’s Don Banfield told reporters.
Scientists involved in the project agree the sound has an otherworldly quality to it.
Thomas Pike of Imperial College London said the rumbling is “rather different to anything that we’ve experienced on Earth, and I think it just gives us another way of thinking about how far away we are getting these signals.”
The noise is of the wind blowing against InSight’s solar panels and the resulting vibration of the entire spacecraft.
e sounds were recorded by an air pressure sensor inside the lander that’s part of a weather station, as well as the seismometer on the deck of the spacecraft.
A SpaceX delivery full of Christmas goodies arrived at the International Space Station on Saturday, following a slight delay caused by a communication drop-out.
The Dragon capsule pulled up at the orbiting lab three days after launching from Cape Canaveral. Commander Alexander Gerst used the space station’s big robotic arm to grab the cargo carrier, as the two craft soared 250 miles above the Pacific.
It took two tries to get the Dragon close enough for capture.
NASA called off the Dragon’s first approach because of trouble with the communication network that serves the space station. Equipment failure in New Mexico for NASA’s Tracking and Data Relay Satellite system resulted in a temporary loss of communication with the station. For safety, Mission Control ordered the Dragon to back up.
It was a successful take two – just an hour-and-a-half late – after NASA switched to another TDRS satellite.
The Dragon holds everything the station astronauts need for Christmas dinner, as well as mice and worms for science experiments, and more than 5,000 pounds (2,270 kilograms) of station equipment.