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Saudi Researcher Plants Cotton in Al-Makhwah’s Shada Mountain

Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA
Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA
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Saudi Researcher Plants Cotton in Al-Makhwah’s Shada Mountain

Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA
Cotton cultivation requires minimal irrigation and care, similar to other agricultural crops, and the trees can grow up to 4 meters high and produce all year round - SPA

Al-Baha region is one of the rich agricultural areas in the Kingdom due to its natural resources, favorable climate, fertile soil, and abundant groundwater.
Thanks to the unlimited support from the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture, successful agricultural experiments have emerged among farmers in various provinces.
“Some may think that cotton trees only grow in Egypt and other producing and exporting countries,” Nasser Al-Shadwi, a historical researcher and environmental activist, told the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
However, cotton trees actually grow naturally in some mountains in the south of the Kingdom, Al-Shadwi said, adding that the production of these trees is abundant in this area.
Al-Shadwi said his decision to revive cotton farming in the Shada Mountain, Al-Makhwah governorate, was influenced by his grandmother's stories about their cultivation of cotton trees on a farm in front of their house and spinning cotton during that time.
Al-Shadwi decided to reattempt cotton farming, which proved to be remarkably successful.
The cultivation of cotton, coffee, and other agricultural crops is an eye-catcher for tourists and visitors to the mountains, representing the beautiful aspects of rural life and enhancing the region’s identity.

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Japan Startup Hopeful Ahead of Second Moon Launch

Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi soars through the air during the trial round of the Four Hills FIS Ski Jumping tournament (Vierschanzentournee), in Innsbruck, Austria on January 4, 2025. (Photo by GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / AFP)
Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi soars through the air during the trial round of the Four Hills FIS Ski Jumping tournament (Vierschanzentournee), in Innsbruck, Austria on January 4, 2025. (Photo by GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / AFP)
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Japan Startup Hopeful Ahead of Second Moon Launch

Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi soars through the air during the trial round of the Four Hills FIS Ski Jumping tournament (Vierschanzentournee), in Innsbruck, Austria on January 4, 2025. (Photo by GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / AFP)
Japan's Ryoyu Kobayashi soars through the air during the trial round of the Four Hills FIS Ski Jumping tournament (Vierschanzentournee), in Innsbruck, Austria on January 4, 2025. (Photo by GEORG HOCHMUTH / APA / AFP)

Japanese startup ispace vowed its upcoming second unmanned Moon mission will be a success, saying Thursday that it learned from its failed attempt nearly two years ago.

In April 2023, the firm's first spacecraft made an unsalvageable "hard landing", dashing its ambitions to be the first private company to touch down on the Moon.

The Houston-based Intuitive Machines accomplished that feat last year with an uncrewed craft that landed at the wrong angle but was able to complete tests and send photos.

With another mission scheduled to launch next week, ispace wants to win its place in space history at a booming time for missions to the Moon from both governments and private companies.

"We at ispace were disappointed in the failure of Mission 1," ispace founder and CEO Takeshi Hakamada told reporters.

"But that's why we hope to send a message to people across Japan that it's important to challenge ourselves again, after enduring the failure and learning from it."

"We will make this Mission 2 a success," AFP quoted him as saying.

Its new lander, called Resilience, will blast off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on January 15, along with another lunar lander built by US company Firefly Aerospace.

If Resilience lands successfully, it will deploy a micro rover and five other payloads from corporate partners.

These include an experiment by Takasago Thermal Engineering, which wants to split water into oxygen and hydrogen gas with a view to using hydrogen as satellite and spacecraft fuel.

- Rideshare -

Firefly's Blue Ghost lander will arrive at the Moon after travelling 45 days, followed by ispace's Resilience, which the Japanese company hopes will land on the Earth's satellite at the end of May, or in June.

For the program, officially named Hakuto-R Mission 2, ispace chose to cut down on costs by arranging the first private-sector rocket rideshare, Hakamada said.

Only five nations have soft-landed spacecraft on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India and, most recently, Japan.

Many companies are vying to offer cheaper and more frequent space exploration opportunities than governments.

Space One, another Japanese startup, is trying to become Japan's first company to put a satellite into orbit -- with some difficulty so far.

Last month, Space One's solid-fuel Kairos rocket blasted off from a private launchpad in western Japan but was later seen spiraling downwards in the distance.

That was the second launch attempt by Space One after an initial try in March last year ended in a mid-air explosion.

Meanwhile Toyota, the world's top-selling carmaker, announced this week it would invest seven billion yen ($44 million) in Japanese rocket startup Interstellar Technologies.

"The global demand for small satellite launches has surged nearly 20-fold, from 141 launches in 2016 to 2,860 in 2023," driven by private space businesses, national security concerns and technological development, Interstellar said.