Polytechnic, NSSA participate in Payload Hosting Initiative

Manama, In close cooperation and technical support from the National Space Science Agency (NSSA), Bahrain Polytechnic presented its proposal for a space payload in the second edition of the Payload Hosting Initiative (PHI). The initiative is a collaboration between the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates. Bahrain Polytechnic is the first higher education institution in the Kingdom to contribute to UNOOSA initiatives related to space science and technology. The NSSA provided comprehensive technical support for Bahrain Polytechnic's participation in accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed between the two parties. The agency's engineers and experts worked with a group of academic staff and a select group of outstanding students from various disciplines at Bahrain Polytechnic. The PHI is intended to design payloads that comply with the scientific and technical requirements while simultaneously providi ng diverse solutions that serve multiple fields. It contributes to achieving sustainable development goals, particularly innovation, quality education, space security and justice, international cooperation, gender equality, and youth empowerment. Bahrain Polytechnic's proposal aims to develop an innovative space payload for detecting and monitoring the health of agricultural crops in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the GCC region by harnessing artificial intelligence and remote sensing technologies. Dr. Mohamed Ebrahim Al Aseeri, NSSA's Chief Executive, commended the efforts of everyone involved in submitting this proposal, including the NSSA staff as well as the Bahrain Polytechnic academic staff and students, with the aim of achieving more accomplishments to position Bahrain among advanced countries in the field of space. "I am proud of this collaboration and confident that it will be the beginning of greater and more impactful achievements in scientific, technological, and research levels." Dr. Al Aseeri emp hasised NSSA's keenness to collaborate with higher education institutions, adding that through launching such initiatives, NSSA seeks to achieve several strategic objectives, including raising awareness in society about the importance of space, its sciences, and applications, especially among academic staff, researchers, and students in higher education institutions. Additionally, it aims to build national capacities, promote space sciences at the national level, and enhance innovation and development in line with Bahrain's economic vision 2030. For his part, Professor Ciarán Ó Catháin, CEO of Bahrain Polytechnic, said that they are honoured to be the first higher educational institution in Bahrain to participate in the Payload Hosting Initiative. "This opportunity adds to the Polytechnic achievements and is a demonstration of our capacity and expertise to achieve the goals we share with the NSSA of supporting and developing scientific research, opening new and broad horizons for students by providing train ing opportunities with experts and specialists. This contributes to supporting development in space science, encouraging creativity, innovation, scientific research, and making a positive and effective contribution to research in space technology, which will make Bahrain Polytechnic a real contributor to building a sustainable economy based on innovation, creativity, and excellence," Professor Ó Catháin added. Engineer Yaqoub Al Qassab, one of the participants in preparing this proposal, said, "Bahrain Polytechnic's participation in this initiative followed an introductory workshop that was organised by NSSA for all higher education institutions, which explained about the PHI, and elaborated on the how to participate and apply to the initiative. The NSSA affirmed its readiness to provide full technical and knowledge support to the participating higher education institutions. The Polytechnic proposal summarizes a Bahraini design for an innovative payload that utilizes artificial intelligence techniques to an alyze satellite images on board the satellite itself rapidly. This enables the relevant authorities and decision-makers to assess the current condition of agricultural crops in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the GCC region, thus facilitating quick actions to minimize damages and develop sustainable strategies for preventing agricultural pests and mitigating crop losses. The PHI-2, which is supervised by MBRSC in collaboration with UNOOSA, is a cooperation programme under the Access to Space for All Initiative that is intended to promote technical development and cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, and to advance human resource development in line with the mission and objectives of the Access to Space for All Initiative. Source: Bahrain News Agency