First Jordan Nanosatellite In Space

Used for the purpose of terrestrial exploration and sending information back to earth, on December 3rd 2018, the Kingdom of Jordan took its first historical moment into space as it launched its first nanosatellite from California, USA.

Named the CubeSat (JYT1-SAT), the nanosatellite was named in honor of His Majesty the late King Hussein and his personal radio call that was known as JY1. The satellite was built by 18 young engineering students, five academic professors, and expert engineers from various universities. Under the supervision of the Crown Prince Foundation – Crown Prince Al-Hussein bin Abdullah II, the JY1-SAT was deployed to orbit the earth with an additional recorded audio message from the young crown prince that will be aired by the satellite in space to all terrestrial radio receivers around the globe.

This nanosatellite will be utilized in various sectors for research, development, and experimental activities. It will operate to boost tourism by broadcasting images of historical and heritage sites around Jordan, promote and develop satellite engineering and space travel, and further work to achieve Jordan’s development goals.

Jordanians making their mark in space

With positive and potential space ambitions under its belt, Jordan has now joined the list of Arab nations with several satellite operations and active space programs that include: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco.

This is a great and meaningful achievement, and this is only the beginning of Jordan’s dynamic journey into space. The JY1-SAT will further the nation’s knowledge on terrestrial exploration as the satellite will gather data as it roams and revolves around the world, to deliver information back to the country almost instantly.

Jordan’s ambitious space missions

Jordan’s interests in space missions is positively growing and initiating a CubeSat mission, such as this one, could create spacecraft projects and opportunities in the coming future. Further promoting opportunities in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math – while placing Jordan on the map – the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) has been active in inspiring innovation in space technology for a while now. Its partnership with NASA brought about the NASA Internship Program initiative that provides Jordanian engineering students with hands-on-training and research at NASA’s own research center in the United States. Through this initiative, students in their fourth or fifth year of engineering study develop their skills in space engineering at NASA premises for a period of 10 weeks.

The NASA initiative and educational program established the Masar Initiative, that aims to inspire highly achieving engineering students with hands-on-training on space engineering, technology, and research. This initiative follows the objective to nurture, support, and develop the Jordanian youth talent present in the nation that have the irrefutable potential to lift their country’s economy and society in the future.

Taking the nation’s innovation to new heights

The JY1-SAT will open new doors for youth innovation especially seeing that this was under the supervision of the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) and will increase and promote innovation around satellite technologies.

The JY1-SAT’s launch into space increases and promotes youth innovation around satellite technologies. The opportunities surrounding outer space are endless and this is the perfect opportunity to explore our terrestrial planet. This is also a vital step to unleash and inspire innovation across Jordan as a whole.

A historic moment, space technology offers the Jordanian youth a chance to enter this field, acquire and foster scientific goals, and expand on their scientific visions. This new and recent pursuit will further capitalize and develop Jordan’s human resources to take over any future and upcoming projects.