Prince Turki bin Saud, Vice-President for Research at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), said that Saudi Arabia is preparing to launch six new satellites this year as part of a program to harness space technology for commercial purposes, the Arab News reported today.

The satellites were manufactured and designed in Saudi Arabia by a team of scientists at the KACST Institute of Space Research in Riyadh. Five of the satellites were built for communications purposes for commercial use, and that the sixth will be used primarily for earth observation, Prince Turki said. All of the satellites will be launched from the Russian space center of Baikonur in Kazakhstan.

“Now we think that the technology developed at KACST is highly reliable and ready for commercial use,” Prince Turki said, as quoted in the Arab News.

Prince Turki has played a pioneering role in promoting a world-class space program in the Kingdom.

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