Satellite to boost space education and research

Space education and research at higher education institutions in Iraq are due for a major boost next year when the country, collaborating with La Svanza University in Italy, launches its first experimental scientific satellite, to be called ‘Dijlah’ (Tigris River).

The project was outlined in a report in the September issue of Satellite Pro, a magazine providing satellite intelligence for the satcom market.

And Iraqi Minister of Science and Technology Abdul Karim al-Samarrai was quoted on the website of Iraq's Dinar as saying his ministry was coordinating with the Ministry of Higher Education to establish a school for academic certification in satellite technology.

To be managed by the science and technology ministry, Dijlah will be used for educational purposes and experimental research in the field of space technology, with applications for agriculture, desertification, management of natural resources, and ground and climatic studies, as well as various uses in the digital communications sector.

The satellite project will also promote the development of Iraq’s scientific workforce.

La Svanza University will provide financial support, in addition to all the technical and scientific expertise needed for Iraqi engineers, who will participate in a scholarship programme to obtain a masters degree in space science from the Italian university.

According to a report Education and Capacity Building of Space Technology in Iraq, two universities in the country – the University of Al-Nahrain and Al-Mustensiria University – have awarded several masters and PhD degrees through postgraduate programmes in space education.

Also, a number of universities in Iraq have created remote sensing research centres that teach and present special courses in remote sensing and spacecraft engineering.

But the report also indicates that the number of scientists, engineers and users is insignificant compared with the actual demand to use space technologies by different ministries in Iraq, and that United Nations sanctions have contributed to isolating Iraqi scientists and engineers from technological advances in the field of space science.

Rezan Omer Rasheed, a lecturer in the college of science at the University of Sulaimani in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, welcomed the new development as a great innovation for Kurdistan.

Because remote sensing is of importance for studying environmental pollution, the Dijlah satellite would help in promoting postgraduate studies and research in Iraqi universities, Rasheed said.

Sattar Sadkhan Almaliky, head of scientific affairs and public relations at the Iraq-based Babylon University and director of the Iraqi Academic Committee, also welcomed the new development, saying to University World News: “It is a vital project for promoting space education in the country.”

He suggested a plan to promote the role of higher education institutions in facilitating space education and enhancing space capacity in Iraq.

The plan should include offering a space education subject in engineering and science colleges at bachelor level, along with encouraging Iraqi universities to establish masters and doctoral programmes in, and to carry out scientific research on, space technology.

Almaliky also called for a communication network across all institutions interested in space technology.