3OCT

Sessions of the Saudi International Space and Aeronautics Technology Conference held in Headquarters, of King Abdul Aziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) in Riyadh were concluded today, Sunday, where three working secessions were held. The sessions included a bunch of global distinguished speakers from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) who presented work papers that spotted light on the latest research trends and programs besides missions to explore both the earth and the moon.

The first session was chaired by Staff General Mohammad Al-Ayesh, commander of the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) where three work papers were presented. The first paper was presented by Dr. Charles Elachi, Director of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory on future programs and trends of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The second paper was presented by Dr. Mohammed Almajed, Director of KACST Space and Aeronautics Sector, while the third paper was presented by Prof. Charbel Farhat, Chairman of Aeronautics and Astronautics Department at Stanford University on a multi-specialized channel to explore space.

The second session was chaired by Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Mana, former member of the Shura Council and Former Minister of State. It comprehended three work papers. The first that was presented by Pete S. Worden, Director of NASA Ames Research Center discussed small satellites and exploration missions.

The second paper was presented by Dr. Haithem Abdulaziz Altwaijry, Director of KACST Space Research Institute about researches carried out by KACST on near earth asteroids while the third paper that reviewed the role and missions of Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope was presented by Prof. Peter Mitcheison, Director of the W.W. Experimental Physics Laboratory at Stanford University.

During the third and last session that was chaired by Dr. Abdullah Al-Dabbagh, Ma’aden President, Mr. Gregory Schmidt, Deputy Director of NASA Lunar Sciences Institute discussed NASA programs to explore the moon while Prof. David C. Hyland, Director of Space Science and Space Engineering Research Center at Texas A&M University debated in his paper a mission to explore and eliminate dangers of near earth asteroids.

The evening period witnessed a lecture and an open dialogue that gathered Prince Sultan bin Sulman, a number of the astronauts who participated in Space trip of Shuttle Discovery trip in 1985 and a number of Saudi distinguished students who represent varied 44 educational zones that cover all areas of the kingdom. Students had an open scope to talk with the Prince and astronauts about that historical trip, their experiments, experiences and memories of the trip.

The conference sessions on the two successive days were featured by large and remarkable presence of global scientific personalities, astronauts, researchers and specialists as the conference hosted international speakers among the distinguished ones was Gen. Charles F. Bolden who has been nominated by President Barack Obama to administrate NASA and who traveled to orbit four times aboard the space shuttle.

NASA astronaut Colonel Steven R. Nagel who was presented the Air Force Meritorious Service Medal and is the recipient of 4 NASA Space Flight Medals and a good number of other Medals besides his being a Lincoln Laureate for the State of Illinois attended the conference. Another distinguished participant in the conference was Professor John Lewis Hall who was awarded and presented several awards and trophies. In 2005, he shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with T.W. Hänsch and Roy Glibber for "contributions to the development of laser-based precision spectroscopy, including the optical frequency comb technique."
On the local level, HRH Prince Sultan bin Sulman, the first Arab and Muslim Astronaut after participating in Space Shuttle Discovery in 1985 and logging more than 6500 flying hours on several types of planes including military planes, civilian planes, gliders and choppers took part in memorable conference. Dr. Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Suwaiyel, KACST President, a member of Saudi ARAMCO Board of Directors and a member of the Scientific Team participating in the shuttle trip Mission STS 51G was one of the main remarkable participants in the conference.
During the two days of the conference, it disucssed14 work papers that in entirety pivoted round three main topics, the first of which covered trends and latest directions for space and aeronautics strategy and advanced research through debating NASA’s new frontier of Space Exploration, while KACST reviewed its programs and activities in this effect concentrating on Earth observation, space navigation, and communications &telecommunications technologies
 
The second pivot concentrated on pace exploration missions on occasion of the 25th anniversary of STS 51-G, HRH Prince Sultan Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz with a distinguished group of Astronauts who participated in flight STS 51-G. They will recount firsthand accounts of their mission, discuss their experience, memorable moments and their reflections as to current directions and developments in Space Exploration.

The third pivot screened advanced researches of NASA, leading universities, and KACST. On this track, Directors of research programs and senior researchers presented their current findings and glimpses of the future of advanced research areas.

This conference is expected to come out with recommendations that participates in the ideal implementation for programs and objectives of the Comprehensive National Plan of Science, Technology and Innovation in the field of space and aeronautics technology that is considered one of the main strategies that concern the Kingdom as conference is regarded as an optimum opportunity to benefit from this great scientific gathering of scientists and experts and global astronauts.