The space sector must concentrate on attracting younger generations into the industry to ensure it is put on a sustainable footing into the future, said Dr Mohamed Ebrahim Al-Aseeri, the CEO of Bahrain’s National Space Science Agency (NSSA).

Speaking at the Bahrain Interantional Airshow 2022, he said: “We have to keep our link with the young generation to make the space sector sustainable, not at the national level only but also at the international level.

“In many regions of the world, people will not receive space as well as they receive other sectors because it’s considered as something new or something that is vague, so they don’t know about it, and they almost think it’s just like rocket science and just like travelling to the moon or to Mars.

“This is what we would like to change, in the minds of our people and especially the youth, because space and space sciences serve many sectors, and there are a list of more than 250 applications that we can benefit from space.”

NSSA vision

The NSSA was established by royal decree in 2014, with a vision to “promote Bahrain to a position of international prominence in the field of space science for the purpose of achieving comprehensive and sustainable development”.

As part of the NSSA’s work to bring young people into the sector, it supports the Endeavour Scholarship Programme to help applicants pursue careers as engineers and explorers in the space field.

On the sidelines of the Bahrain International Airshow 2022, the names of the four students along with their mentor were selected to form the Kingdom of Bahrain team participating in the 2023 space camp.
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