SAASST News

Thursday, 27 February 2020 09:54

SAASST Participation in the 11th ESIG Meeeting

The 11th Emirates Space and Innovation Group (ESIG) was held on Feb. 27, 2020, at the Krypto Labs (Masdar City, Abu Dhabi). The meeting is an occasion for UAE Space Agency university research groups to expose their research and update the UAESA on the advance of their funded projects. The Sharjah Academy for Astronomy, Space Sciences, and Technology (SAASST) attended the meeting with a large group of its researchers to showcase their latest results and also to showcase SAASST’s new systems.

Mr. Mohamed Rihan, from the Radio Astronomy Laboratory, presented the latest findings regarding the “Decametric Radio Telescope” as it is funded by the UAESA. Ms. Aisha Al-Owais, from the Meteorite Center, presented the results of the UAE Meteor Monitoring Network (UAEMMN)’s observations, another project funded by the UAESA. Ms. Asmaa Al-Hameed, from the Radio Astronomy Laboratory, talked about the new 40-m radio interferometer composed of three 5-m radio dishes. The system works at 1.4 GHz. Mr. Ibrahim Al-Sabt, from the CubeSat Laboratory, showcased the new SAASST Satellite Tracking Ground Station, composed of several VHF/UHF antennas. The ground station will be used to communicate with the Sharjah-Sat-1 CubeSat planned to be launched by the end of Q4-2020 or early Q1-2021. At last, Dr. Mubasshir Sheikh, SAASST Post-Doc, gave an overview of the Space Weather and Ionospheric Lab, explaining the use of SAASST GNSS station and CADI Ionoosnde instruments to study Earth’s ionosphere. Dr. Antonios Manousakis, from SAASST High-Energy Astrophysics Laboratory, also attended the meeting along with Mr. Abderahman Kamaleldin from the Space Weather Lab.