A big space leap for Bahrain as ISS puts Light-1 into Orbit

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Light 1, a 3U CubeSat jointly developed by Bahrain and UAE, was successfully launched to its orbit yesterday from International Space Station, giving a big leap to the space dreams of Bahrain. The satellite was propelled to its Orbit from the Japanese wing of the ISS as Bahraini space engineer Aisha Al-Haram gave the launch signal.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency coordinated the launch from the Tsukuba Space Centre in Japan. The launch was broadcast live on Bahrain TV in cooperation with International Space Station, the Japanese Space Station and the National Space Science Authority.

Dr Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Asiri, the CEO of the National Space Science Authority, said the satellite, after launch, needs five hours to come online to receive a signal at the ground station.

“It will take around 30 days to collect experimental data through commands from the ground stations and measure responses.” “We will then begin our main mission of measuring gamma rays,” he added.

Light-1 propelled to ISS on board a Flacon 9 rocket (Dragon CRS-24) of SpaceX from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, US, will monitor and study Terrestrial Gamma-Ray Flashes (TGFs) from lightning storms and cumulus clouds.

It will provide data exceeding 280 megabytes per day, which will be shared with the research centres and scientists around the globe. Light 1 will make four daily visits to the area under study to collect scientific data and transmit it to the joint control centre through 3 ground stations.

The impact of high-energy gamma-ray emissions on the atmosphere, air traffic, and human health, especially flight crews, will be studied. It is important because these rays can penetrate aircraft structures, and therefore the data of Light-1 will improve understanding related to radiation exposure.

The UAE Space Agency, Bahrain’s National Space Science Agency (NSSA), Khalifa University of Science and Research and New York University Abu Dhabi joined hands for the project. The team that worked on the design and construction of Light-1 included nine Bahrainis and ten Emiratis.