Dubai has launched a satellite station that will be used by university students to test code on live satellites in orbit.
The ground station is an initiative by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority to help students develop skills in managing satellites and their technology.
The Code in Space Satellite Ground Station, in the Dubai Technology Entrepreneur Campus in Dubai Silicon Oasis, will be used to develop and test software code on the computers of satellites that are orbiting the Earth.
“For the first time in the Arab world, students, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts will be able to learn coding for space in practice – to develop and test software and algorithms on satellites in orbit around Earth,” said Dr Juma Al Matrooshi, deputy chief executive of DSOA.
“This will give them the opportunity to not only conceptualise, but also implement their projects and test their effectiveness, qualifying a new generation of experts in satellite control.
“This new station will also enable our youth to master this technology and play a key role in a sector that has contributed to advancing humanity, by finding practical solutions to critical issues, most prominently climate change, monitoring Earth’s temperature, and natural disasters, in addition to the services it provides in communication, innovation, and exploration.”
A growing number of students across the Emirates now have access to a ground station, as more universities offer space education.
The American University of Ras Al Khaimah launched a ground station last year to track and communicate with their student-built MeznSat nanosatellite.
Students at Dubai’s Amity University also have access to a ground station on campus, where they track satellites.
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Amity University in Dubai is one of the few institutes in the UAE to offer aerospace engineering degrees to students. Here, students work at the on-campus satellite ground control station that helps gain hands-on training. All photos by Pawan Singh / The National -
The programme had more than 15 students when it was first launched in 2015. -
Now, there are more than 50 students enrolled in the programme. -
Aerospace and other engineering students can use the ground control station to track satellites, predict weather patterns and pollution levels. -
Students can analyse the data they receive. -
In this picture Sarath Raj, programme leader of Aerospace Engineering (right) explains about the Armfield Subsonic Wind Tunnel to students -
The university is located in Academic City, Dubai.
The technology is helping students predict weather patterns and pollution levels as part of their studies.
In Al Ain, the UAE University launched a satellite assembly, integration and testing centre, where students can design and build satellites.
The latest satellite station was launched to support a coding programme that was developed by a private space firm in Dubai, Orbital Space.
Students from universities across the Middle East are participating in the programme, including from Khalifa University, the Higher Colleges of Technology, Kuwait University, American University of the Middle East, Sabah Al-Ahmad Center for Giftedness and Creativity, the University of Bahrain and Al Hekma International School Bahrain.
Adnan Al Rais, the programme manager of the Mars 2117 project at MBRSC, said the programme would help bring new talent into the space sector.
“The inauguration of the Code in Space Satellite Ground Station is a significant step in support of space programmes, and contributes to the achievement of a priority objective for the Mars 2117 project – strengthening the space industry sector through empowering entrepreneurs to establish companies that operate in the space and space advanced technologies sectors,” he said.
Inside the ground control room at Dubai's Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre - in pictures
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'The National' visited mission control at Dubai's Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre to learn how engineers are preparing for Hope probe's Mars orbit insertion, set for February 9. All photos by Chris Whiteoak / The National -
Omar Abdelrahman Hussain, mission design and navigation lead, said mission team will mostly be observers on the day. There is an 11-minute communication delay because of the distance between the two planets, so live commands will not be sent -
The Hope probe is close to completing a distance of 493.5 million kilometres. It launched on July 20, 2020 aboard a Japanese rocket and will study the upper and lower atmosphere of the Red Planet. Emirates Mars Mission -
Pre-programmed manoeuvers have been set into the spacecraft so it can perform an automated entry into orbit -
The programming includes firing the probe's six thrusters for 28 minutes to slow it down from about 100,000 kph to 18,000 kph to get captured into Mars' orbit -
There will also be a brief period when communication is lost when the spacecraft travels behind Mars, blocking the signal. Engineers will do a full evaluation of how orbit entry went once contact is restored -
Khalid Mohammad Badri, instrument science engineer, said the scientific instruments aboard the spacecraft will remain safe during orbit entry and will be tested after completion of this critical stage -
All communication with the probe has been made possible through Nasa's Deep Space Network. Their massive ground radio arrays in California, Spain and Australia are the first to send and receive telemetry from the spacecraft. The antenna in Madrid will be the first to know how orbit entry went -
Mahmood Abdulaziz AlNasser, mission operations control development lead, said the team remains confident the orbit entry will go as planned. This stage is equally challenging as the rocket launch stage -
The probe will spend 40 hours in the capture orbit and then be transferred into the science orbit, where it will spend two years gathering data on the planet's dynamic weather conditions. It is the first time a spacecraft will be positioned so high above the Red Planet, allowing it to capture different weather patterns throughout a single day. Nasa -
If orbit entry is successful, the UAE will become the fifth nation worlwide to reach Mars
