RIYADH — The Rector of King Saud University (KSU), Dr. Badran Bin Abdulrahman Al-Omar, has expressed his happiness with the successful launch of the CubeSat satellite Monday from the Baikonur base in the Republic of Kazakhstan on board the Russian Soyouz2 rocket. With this success, King Saud University became the first university in Saudi Arabia to join exploring this important scientific field, as the project is one of the Innovation Center’s projects of the University"s College of Engineering. Dr. Al-Omar extended thanks and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince for the care and support they provide to education in Saudi Arabia, especially supporting innovation and scientific research and motivating people to move forward in scientific fields that benefit the nation"s development in various domains in light of the Kingdom"s Vision 2030. On this occasion, the Rector said in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) that the educational project of launching the CubeSat satellite, which has a size of 10 x 10 x 10 cm and weighs 1 kg, aims to prepare and qualify engineering students in the fields of designing and programming satellites, as well as increasing knowledge to serve Saudi Arabia’s ambitious programs and plans in the field of space. He noted that the mission of the satellite is to take images of space, the Earth and the moon and send them to the ground station at the university. The Rector added that the CubeSat satellite was designed and manufactured by about 130 students from the College of Engineering at the university. He pointed out that the university’s next project includes launching a larger CubeSat satellite, as some of its parts will be manufactured locally due to the experience gained from the first CubeSat satellite project. — SPA