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Saudi Arabia Signs Artemis Accords with NASA to Explore Moon and Mars

The moon is seen during a partial lunar eclipse. Reuters file photo
The moon is seen during a partial lunar eclipse. Reuters file photo
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Saudi Arabia Signs Artemis Accords with NASA to Explore Moon and Mars

The moon is seen during a partial lunar eclipse. Reuters file photo
The moon is seen during a partial lunar eclipse. Reuters file photo

Saudi Arabia signed on Saturday the Artemis Accords with NASA to join the international alliance in civil exploration and the use of the moon, Mars, meteorites, and comets for peace and the beneficial use of space for all of humanity, and to bring Man back on the moon.

The Artemis Accords align with the national priorities for innovation that the Kingdom announced end of June, including future economies, in which space is the next trillion opportunity for the world by 2040 and can aid in the growth of a multitude of sectors and create thousands of jobs.

The agreement was signed during the US president’s visit to Saudi Arabia and was attended by Abdullah Alswaha, Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Space Commission, and Saudi Ambassador to the US Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud.

CEO of the Saudi Space Commission Mohammed Altamimi signed the Accords on behalf of the Kingdom, while NASA was represented by Senator Bill Nelson.

The Artemis Accords include 13 items that aim in general to affirm the Kingdom’s international presence and its active contribution to joint international projects, and bolster the Kingdom’s positioning as a leading nation in the “New Space” sector through its contributions to emerging space activities in science and exploration missions, empowering the space economy, and developing research capabilities and human capital.

Joining the Artemis Accords affirms the Kingdom’s commitment to sustainable space exploration and the peaceful and responsible use of space exploration, boosts the Kingdom’s ambitions in the space sector and is in line with its plans to diversify the economy, attract foreign direct investments and create thousands of jobs for Saudi youth.

The Accords will launch its three execution phases with the first phase to send unmanned space missions for testing and scientific experiments, followed by the second phase that will focus on sending astronauts to explore and return without landing on the moon.

The third phase will have the astronauts land on the moon’s surface and continue research and exploration. These three phases will pave the way for humanity to explore space and other celestial bodies.

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Explorer: Sonar Image Was Rock Formation, Not Amelia Earhart Plane

A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP
A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP
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Explorer: Sonar Image Was Rock Formation, Not Amelia Earhart Plane

A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP
A statue of Amelia Earhart at the US Capitol. Nathan Howard / GETTY IMAGES/AFP

A sonar image suspected of showing the remains of the plane of Amelia Earhart, the famed American aviatrix who disappeared over the Pacific in 1937, has turned out to be a rock formation.

Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a South Carolina-based firm, released the blurry image in January captured by an unmanned submersible of what it said may be Earhart's plane on the seafloor.

Not so, the company said in an update on Instagram this month, AFP reported.

"After 11 months the waiting has finally ended and unfortunately our target was not Amelia's Electra 10E (just a natural rock formation)," Deep Sea Vision said.

"As we speak DSV continues to search," it said. "The plot thickens with still no evidence of her disappearance ever found."

The image was taken by DSV during an extensive search in an area of the Pacific to the west of Earhart's planned destination, remote Howland Island.

Earhart went missing while on a pioneering round-the-world flight with navigator Fred Noonan.

Her disappearance is one of the most tantalizing mysteries in aviation lore, fascinating historians for decades and spawning books, movies and theories galore.

The prevailing belief is that Earhart, 39, and Noonan, 44, ran out of fuel and ditched their twin-engine Lockheed Electra in the Pacific near Howland Island while on one of the final legs of their epic journey.

Earhart, who won fame in 1932 as the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, took off on May 20, 1937 from Oakland, California, hoping to become the first woman to fly around the world.

She and Noonan vanished on July 2, 1937 after taking off from Lae, Papua New Guinea, on a challenging 2,500-mile (4,000-kilometer) flight to refuel on Howland Island, a speck of a US territory between Australia and Hawaii.

They never made it.