Riyadh – Mubasher: The launch of “SGS-1” satellite is a key step that aims to achieve Saudi Vision 2030 which plans to nationalise strategic technologies over the next years, the kingdom’s energy minister said on Wednesday.
The satellite also aims to raise the contribution of local content in various sectors, as well as enable the Saudi youth to work on the state-of-the-art satellite technologies, Khalid Al-Falih added in a statement.
SGS-1 satellite was developed in collaboration with Lockheed Martin.
On Tuesday evening, Saudi Arabia launched “SGS-1” satellite for space telecommunications from Coro in French Guiana.
In February 2018, twelve Saudi engineers participated in manufacturing two satellites that the Kingdom received by the end of last year.
In October 2018, Saudi Arabia’s King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) had completed the development and manufacturing of two satellites, called “Saudi SAT 5A” and “Saudi SAT 5B”.
The GCC nation last November announced that it launched two satellites for aerial surveying purposes.
