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Launch Postponed for Soyuz Rocket with Saudi Satellites

Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA
Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA
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Launch Postponed for Soyuz Rocket with Saudi Satellites

Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA
Prince Sultan bin Salman. SPA

The launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket, with two Saudi and other satellites on board, has been postponed until Sunday, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said.

The launch of 38 satellites from more than half a dozen countries, which had been scheduled for 0607 GMT on Saturday, is now set for 0607 GMT on Sunday, Roscosmos added.

"The launch of the Soyuz-2.la rocket... with 38 foreign satellites on board from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan has been postponed until a later date," Roscosmos said.

Space agency chief Dmitry Rogozin said the launch was postponed after a surge in voltage was detected.

"We decided not to take the risk," Rogozin told the RIA Novosti news agency.

The rocket was due to place in orbit 38 satellites from 18 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Japan and Canada.

Saudi Arabia's Shaheen Sat satellite would have been the 17th spacecraft from King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology to be launched in Kazakhstan. Shaheen Sat would be utilized for photography and maritime tracking purposes.

CubeSat, meanwhile, was designed by King Saud University for educational use. The university would have been the first in the Kingdom to send a satellite into space.

“I am hopeful that great moves and achievements will be made so that we can continue to be in the lead. The Kingdom deserves to be in a position of leadership in everything, including space activities,” Prince Sultan bin Salman, chairman of the board of directors of the Saudi Space Authority, said Friday.

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Landmark Nepal Survey Estimates Nearly 400 Elusive Snow Leopards

A snow leopard walks in its enclosure at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig Scotland, Britain, February 12, 2016. (Reuters)
A snow leopard walks in its enclosure at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig Scotland, Britain, February 12, 2016. (Reuters)
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Landmark Nepal Survey Estimates Nearly 400 Elusive Snow Leopards

A snow leopard walks in its enclosure at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig Scotland, Britain, February 12, 2016. (Reuters)
A snow leopard walks in its enclosure at the RZSS Highland Wildlife Park near Kincraig Scotland, Britain, February 12, 2016. (Reuters)

Nepal's first nationwide survey of the threatened snow leopard estimated nearly 400 of the elusive big cats in the Himalayan nation, wildlife officials said Tuesday.

Habitat loss, climate change and poaching have greatly impacted snow leopard populations across Asia, listed as a "vulnerable" species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

But the survey offers a rare shot of hope, confirming numbers lie at the upper end of the previous estimates.

With thick grey fur dotted with dark spots, and large paws that act as natural snow shoes, the species are difficult to spot and quick to hide, making field research challenging.

"This is a historic step in Nepal's snow leopard conservation journey," Haribhadra Acharya, senior ecologist at the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, told AFP.

"This is the first time we are getting authentic data with the great effort of researchers," he said.

An estimated total of 397 snow leopards were counted, determined through motion-sensor camera and genetic analysis in seven key areas.

It offers the most comprehensive national estimate of snow leopards -- also known as the "ghosts of mountains" -- previously estimated by the IUCN to be in the range of 301-400.

Snow leopards are the least studied of the big cats globally due to their low population density and remote mountain habitats they inhabit.

"Nepal has only two percent of the size of the snow leopard habitats globally, (yet) we host 10 percent of the total estimated population", Ghana S Gurung, country representative of WWF Nepal, told AFP.

"More importantly, we are the second smallest country in terms of snow leopard habitat size after Bhutan, (but) we hold the fourth largest population," he added.

The Snow Leopard Trust, a US-based conservation group, says the exact total number is not known but that "there may be as few as 3,920 and probably no more than 6,390" across 12 countries in Asia.

Although conservationists have welcomed the new population estimate, many remain concerned about the threats posed by climate change and infrastructure development.

"New road construction, installation of transmission lines, and increased human activity in search of herbs are disrupting snow leopards' habitats in the Himalayas," said Acharya, one of the lead researchers.

Experts say the increasing avalanches in the mountains -- where climate change is exacerbating extremes of weather patterns -- are another threat.

Nepal has been praised worldwide for its efforts to protect wildlife which have helped several species, including tigers and rhinos, to return from the brink of local extinction.

The country's conservation efforts have helped to triple its tiger population to 355 since 2010 and to increase one-horned rhinoceros from around 100 in the 1960s to 752 in 2021.