UAE Space Agency sends pupils to UK space school

ABU DHABI // The UAE Space Agency is sending a group of Emirati students to a UK space school to continue their studies.

The students, who are all 17 or 18, will take part in a week-long programme starting on July 30 at the Senior Space School, run by the University of Leicester’s physics department. It includes lectures on topics such as radiation, black holes and how our Solar System came to be.

They will take part in workshops where they can build and launch their own rockets and develop their own satellites.

The agency’s chairman, Dr Khalifa Al Romaithi, said the initiative was part of the effort to build the human capital required to grow the country’s space sector. “This type of summer school represents a great opportunity to realise the agency’s plans,” he said.

Dr Mohamed Al Ahbabi, director general of the agency, said the course’s classes and workshops would help to develop the pupils’ creativity and their capacity to work together.

“The educational and training activities will definitely allow students to achieve their full potential, and to gain knowledge about space that will lay the groundwork for the future of this important sector.”

Rashid Al Masoud, 17, said the programme would help him to achieve his goal of becoming a mechanical engineer in the field by developing his knowledge in space sciences.

Another student, 18-year-old Lolowa Al Kindi, said the opportunity would help her to continue studying astronomy, a subject she has been fascinated with since Grade 10.

“Since then I’ve wanted to be a part of the UAE space sector, and work to develop the regional effect on space sciences, exploration and research and development,” she said.