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Saudi Arabia’s KAUST Tops Times Higher Education Arab University Rankings for 2nd Consecutive Year

The achievement highlights the university's rapid development under its Accelerating Impact Strategy announced last year. SPA
The achievement highlights the university's rapid development under its Accelerating Impact Strategy announced last year. SPA
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Saudi Arabia’s KAUST Tops Times Higher Education Arab University Rankings for 2nd Consecutive Year

The achievement highlights the university's rapid development under its Accelerating Impact Strategy announced last year. SPA
The achievement highlights the university's rapid development under its Accelerating Impact Strategy announced last year. SPA

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has secured first place in the Times Higher Education (THE) Arab University Rankings for a second consecutive year for its outstanding academic capabilities, pioneering scientific research, and strategic investments.

This achievement highlights the university's rapid development under its Accelerating Impact Strategy announced last year. It reflects the university's commitment to supporting the Kingdom's Vision 2030 goals, especially in enhancing the global profile of educational institutions in Saudi Arabia.

"Achieving this distinction for a second consecutive year is a definitive affirmation of KAUST's exceptional impact," said KAUST President Sir Edward Byrne AC. "It cements our standing as a global hub for innovation and knowledge, elevating Saudi Arabia's profile on the world stage. This back-to-back success, made possible by everyone at KAUST, underscores our transformative role in shaping a future defined by scientific and technological leadership."

Consecutive first-place wins in 2024 and 2023, following an impressive second-place ranking in 2022, emphasize KAUST's growing momentum and leadership in the Arab and global academic communities.

It follows KAUST's recent achievement of leading the Middle East with 14 faculty members recognized in the 2024 Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers list, reinforcing the university's research-driven global impact.

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Intuitive Machines' Athena Lander Closing in on Lunar Touchdown Site

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
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Intuitive Machines' Athena Lander Closing in on Lunar Touchdown Site

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Launch Complex-39A carrying the Nova-C lunar lander Athena as part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload initiative from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US, February 26, 2025. REUTERS/Steve Nesius/File Photo

Intuitive Machines sent final commands to its uncrewed Athena spacecraft on Thursday as it closed in on a landing spot near the moon's south pole, the company's second attempt to score a clean touchdown after making a lopsided landing last year.

After launching atop a SpaceX rocket on Feb. 26 from Florida, the six-legged Athena lander has flown a winding path to the moon some 238,000 miles (383,000 km) away from Earth, where it will attempt to land closer to the lunar south pole than any other spacecraft.

The landing is scheduled for 12:32 pm ET (1732 GMT). It will target Mons Mouton, a flat-topped mountain some 100 miles (160 km) from the lunar south pole, Reuters reported.

Five nations have made successful soft landings in the past - the then-Soviet Union, the US, China, India and, last year, Japan. The US and China are both rushing to put their astronauts on the moon later this decade, each courting allies and giving their private sectors a key role in spacecraft development.

India's first uncrewed moon landing, Chandrayaan-3 in 2023, touched down near the lunar south pole. The region is eyed by major space powers for its potential for resource extraction once humans return to the surface - subsurface water ice could theoretically be converted into rocket fuel.

The Houston-based company's first moon landing attempt almost exactly a year ago, using its Odysseus lander, marked the most successful touchdown attempt at the time by a private company.

But its hard touchdown - due to a faulty laser altimeter used to judge its distance from the ground - broke a lander leg and caused the craft to topple over, dooming many of its onboard experiments.

Austin-based Firefly Aerospace this month celebrated a clean touchdown of its Blue Ghost lander, making the most successful soft landing by a private company to date.

Intuitive Machines, Firefly, Astrobotic Technology and a handful of other companies are building lunar spacecraft under NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, an effort to seed development of low-budget spacecraft that can scour the moon's surface before the US sends astronauts there around 2027.