Within the framework of the National Space Science Agency’s keenness to spread awareness of the importance of space science and technologies in various sectors, the NSSA organized a specialized stakeholder’s workshop on the 29th June 2022, in cooperation with the Lithuanian company “Nanoavionics”, an advanced small satellite bus manufacturer and mission integrator, and the Spanish company “Satlantis”, a leader in the field of designing and manufacturing Earth & Universe Observation payloads for Small Satellites, with the wide participation of various military and security actors whose work is linked to the fields of space and its diverse applications.

The workshop aims to introduce the importance of satellites, ground stations, and the processing and analysis of space data and satellite imagery that enable researchers, specialists and decision makers to obtain information that support efforts to achieve the goals of comprehensive and sustainable development. It began by introducing the ideal infrastructure for the space sector, which consists of satellites of all kinds, components and payloads, launch vehicles and their types, ground stations for satellite control and reception of space data, processing centers and analysis of space images and data. The workshop interactively reviewed the applications of Earth observation through remote sensing in order to support efforts to achieve the goals of comprehensive and sustainable development for various sectors from natural disaster monitoring, agriculture, oil and gas, environment, energy and natural resources monitoring and infrastructure planning and urban management and smart cities. A number of space applications that serve the military and security authorities were also presented, including the preparation of important maps, detection of illegal changes and activities, border surveillance, and regional airspace, and monitoring changes in infrastructure such as facilities, bases, airports, ports and others.

Dr. Mohamed Ebrahim Al-Aseeri, NSSA CEO, said: “The National Space Science Agency is always keen to organize such stakeholders workshops, as we strongly believe in their impact on spreading awareness of the importance of space science and its applications, especially in the military and security field. This workshop is the fifth implemented by the Agency since the beginning of this year as part of a series of awareness programs targeting various sectors. The Agency is in the process of organizing more workshops to raise awareness of the importance of space science and to introduce its applications and latest technologies to representatives of governmental, security and military agencies during the coming period, which in turn is in line with the objectives of the government’s work program and contributes to the achievement of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030. The Agency also invites the concerned authorities to take advantage of such workshops and events to raise awareness of the importance of space science and the optimal utilization of its applications and technologies in order to serve the Kingdom of Bahrain and contribute to its elevation.”

Al-Aseeri concluded by thanking all those who contributed to the success of the workshop, Nanoavinics and Satlantis for their outstanding efforts, praising the participants for the interaction and keenness to increase modern knowledge through positive presentation during the workshop and participation in questions that reflected the level of interest.