The King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) announced the successful launch of the Saudi Sat 5A and the Saudi Sat 5B satellites on Friday. HH Prince Turki Bin Saud Bin Mohammed, President of KACST, said that the launching took place at 12:12 pm Beijing time on the Long March 2D from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center of China.

Prince Turki congratulated Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and  HRH Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman on this great achievement. He said that this feat was accomplished thanks to the support and guidance of the King and the follow-up and care of the Crown Prince, stressing that this achievement comes as a complement to many achievements in the fields of space and aviation in line with the Vision 2030, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

This comes as a result of the efforts made by the KACST over the years in the transfer and development of many advanced technologies, including satellite technologies and the construction of national cadres capable of dealing with these technologies and the establishment of advanced infrastructure, enabling the City to develop and manufacture satellites Saudi Sat 5A and Saudi Sat 5B in its factories with Saudi employees. The two satellites will be used to provide government agencies with high-resolution satellite images similar to those in developed countries for use in various fields of development. The two satellites will be managed and operated from an advanced control station located at the headquarters of KACST.

The City has already launched 13 Saudi satellites between 2000 and 2017. It also participated in the implementation of scientific experiments in outer space in cooperation with the US space agency NASA and Stanford University on board the satellite SaudiSat 4 in 2014.