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Saudi Space Commission Reviews Plans for Exploration Missions to Mars, Moon

Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Chairman of the Saudi Space Commission. (Saudi Space Commission)
Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Chairman of the Saudi Space Commission. (Saudi Space Commission)
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Saudi Space Commission Reviews Plans for Exploration Missions to Mars, Moon

Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Chairman of the Saudi Space Commission. (Saudi Space Commission)
Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Chairman of the Saudi Space Commission. (Saudi Space Commission)

The Saudi Space Commission is reviewing the track of work put into sending exploratory missions to both the Moon and Mars. Concerned authorities in the kingdom have prepared several programs for building national cadres and expanding investment in the space field.

Commission Chairman Prince Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz announced that the agency completed all stages of its establishment and concluded many partnerships and agreements both locally and internationally.

Heading the Commission’s fourth board meeting, which was held via videoconference, Prince Sultan thanked King Salman bin Abdulaziz for the support shown by the country’s leadership and stressed that the kingdom maintains a leading role in the field of space.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is able to maintain leadership by relying on its educated and qualified children who have made many achievements at various levels,” a statement by the Commission, which Asharq Al-Awsat obtained a copy of, cited Prince Sultan as saying.

Prince Sultan explained that King Salman had witnessed Saudi Arabia’s pioneering and historic journey to space in 1985.

Including over 30 Saudi scientists, the mission was met with great success and managed to inspire many countries in the region and the world to invest in outer space for the benefit of humanity.

On raising the levels of investment in the sector, Prince Sultan said that the Commission was cooperating with the Saudi Investment ministry and Public Investment Fund (PIF).

According to the chairman, only a few weeks separate the Commission from launching an entire branch centered on boosting and encouraging investment in the space field.

Apart from securing funds, the new domain will enable the involvement of SMEs.

More so, Prince Sultan predicted that the Kingdom, in two years’ time, will finish assembling an integrated crew with international space agencies. The team is expected to mount space exploration missions to Mars and the Moon.

Prince Sultan also congratulated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on it Mars “Hope” Probe successfully entering the planet’s orbit.

He affirmed the kingdom’s support for the efforts of the UAE in the projects and programs it is working on in the field of space.

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UK's Sunniest Spring Yields Unusually Sweet Strawberries

(FILES) A seasonal worker picks strawberries at Hugh Lowe Farms, near Maidstone, Kent on June 21, 2021. (Photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP)
(FILES) A seasonal worker picks strawberries at Hugh Lowe Farms, near Maidstone, Kent on June 21, 2021. (Photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP)
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UK's Sunniest Spring Yields Unusually Sweet Strawberries

(FILES) A seasonal worker picks strawberries at Hugh Lowe Farms, near Maidstone, Kent on June 21, 2021. (Photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP)
(FILES) A seasonal worker picks strawberries at Hugh Lowe Farms, near Maidstone, Kent on June 21, 2021. (Photo by BEN STANSALL / AFP)

British strawberry farmers say this year's record-breaking spring sunshine and warm days have yielded the cream of the crop, with a bigger and sweeter harvest than usual.

Long periods of sun and cool nights provided "perfect" conditions for the strawberry harvest, according to James Miller from WB Chambers Farms.

The dry and pleasant weather also boosted insect pollination, which further improves the quality and shape of the berries, Miller explained, according to AFP.

"They're bigger and sweeter this year than we've seen in previous years," said Miller, the commercial director for one of the country's biggest berry producers.

At one farm near Dartford in Kent, southeast England, rows of strawberry plants drooped with the weight of the gleaming red fruit housed in insulating polytunnels.

As farmhands made their way meticulously down the semi-circular white tunnels, punnets were filled with ripe strawberries -- some the size of small fists.

The weather has resulted in "super berry size and super flavor," said Nick Marston, chairman of British Berry Growers, which represents most of the UK's soft fruit farms.

"I've been in the berry industry for 30 years and this is one of the best springs I've ever seen, in terms of both the weather and also the crop," Marston told AFP.

This year Britain experienced the warmest spring in terms of mean temperatures since records began in 1884, the Met Office announced this week.

It was also the second-sunniest and the driest spring in over a century for England, known for its damp climate.

Southeast England received only 30-50 percent of its average spring rainfall, according to the Met Office, raising fears of drought for many farmers.

Human-induced climate change is driving longer-lasting, more intense and more frequent droughts, heatwaves and other extreme weather events.

To conserve water, the WB Chambers farm in Dartford uses drip irrigation -- which involves water slowly trickling to the roots of the plant through a controlled pipe.

"We've reduced our water usage for growing strawberries quite significantly," Miller told AFP. "So I hope we're in a better place than others."

According to Marston, British producers have already sold nearly 21,600 tons of strawberries -- 5,000 tons more than by the same time last year, when the country experienced an overcast spring.

This is in part due to warmer conditions yielding an earlier crop than usual, with large and juicy strawberries hitting the shelves in April, rather than May.

But it is also due to a rise in demand when the sun comes out, said Miller, with consumers hankering for British summer classics like strawberries and cream.

"The sun is our biggest salesman in the UK," said Miller. "When the sun picks up, then the demand picks up."