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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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What to Know About Sinkholes after a US Woman May Have Disappeared into One

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
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What to Know About Sinkholes after a US Woman May Have Disappeared into One

Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Rescue workers search in a sinkhole for Elizabeth Pollard, who disappeared while looking for her cat, in Marguerite, Pa., Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Authorities fear a grandmother in western Pennsylvania who disappeared while looking for her cat may have been swallowed by a sinkhole, The Associated Press reported.
Crews lowered a pole camera with a sensitive listening device into the hole on Tuesday but no sound was detected, while a second camera lowered down showed what could be a shoe.
Police say Elizabeth Pollard's relatives called police at about 1 a.m. to say she hadn’t been seen since Monday evening when she went to search for her cat. They found Pollard’s 5-year-old granddaughter in her parked car near the manhole-sized opening.
Here are some things to know about sinkholes:
What are sinkholes? A sinkhole is an area of ground that has no natural external surface drainage and can form when the ground below the land surface can no longer support the land above, according to the US Geological Survey.
The land usually stays intact for a period of time until the underground spaces just get too big. If there is not enough support for the land above the spaces, then a sudden, dramatic collapse of the land surface can happen.
How common are sinkholes? Sinkholes are most common in what geologists call karst terrain, which involves types of rock including limestone below the land surface that can naturally be dissolved by groundwater circulating through them. They can also happen due to old underground mines.
The most damage from sinkholes in the US tends to occur in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee and Pennsylvania. Florida, for example, is highly susceptible to sinkholes because it sits above limestone.
How big are sinkholes? Sinkholes can range in size from holes that are just a few feet wide to ones that cover a vast area spanning hundreds of acres. Their depth can also vary from just a few inches to more than 100 feet (more than 30 meters). Some are shaped like shallow bowls or saucers, whereas others have vertical walls. Some hold water and form ponds.
Other recent sinkhole incidents In June, a giant sinkhole in southern Illinois swallowed the center of a soccer field built on top of a limestone mine, taking down a large light pole and leaving a gaping chasm where squads of kids often play. No one was hurt.
In 2023, a sinkhole that in 2013 fatally swallowed a man sleeping in his house in suburban Tampa, Florida, reopened for a third time, but it was behind chain-link fencing and caused no harm to people or property. Officials said the sinkhole reopening was not unusual, especially in central Florida with its porous limestone base.
A large sinkhole opened up in 2020 in South Dakota near where a man was mowing his lawn. Testing revealed a large, improperly sealed mine beneath part of the housing subdivision, and a 40-foot-deep (12-meter-deep) pit mine in another corner of the neighborhood, a lawyer for some of the area homeowners said. Since the first giant collapse, more sinkholes have appeared.
A large sinkhole that swallowed oil field equipment and some vehicles in southeastern Texas in 2008 expanded in 2023 when another sinkhole developed and joined the first one.