NASA tech could help find Mideast water

NASA tech could help find Mideast water

(UPI) April 3, 2010

NASA technology used to hunt for water on Mars could be used in the huge deserts of the Middle East and North Africa, a NASA scientist says. NASA planetary scientist Essam Heggy, a member of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, told a U.N. water conference in Alexandria, Egypt, the scarcity of water could trigger water-related conflicts throughout the region, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. But the NASA technology could detect water up to more than half a mile beneath the dense deserts that cover much of the Middle East and North Africa, he said. As global warming continues, the technology could eventually help ward off conflict, Heggy said.

Discussons on Regional Space Agency in the Middle East

This article in the UAE's 'The Nation' newspaper talks about a conference currently underway in the Middle East in which countries are talking about the possibility of creating a regional agency. Though some countries, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have space programs, smaller nations may not have the resources to carry out a robust program on their own. It will be interesting to see how these discussions develop.

Space experts call for regional agency
(The Nation) December 7, 2009, Kareem Shaheen

ABU DHABI // Space experts are calling for the creation of a regional agency to bring the Middle East’s various programmes together, and help train the next generation of rocket scientists.

“Like there’s the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, we want the Muslim Institute of Technology,” said Ahmad al Dousari, the director of space and remote sensing at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research.

“As individual countries, we cannot compete with India for instance. India is a huge country with a big budget and a big space programme. We don’t even have the manpower to put the programme on its feet.”

Dr al Dousari is one of several high-profile officials and scientists who are in the capital for the second Global Space Technology Forum, which starts today.

The three-day conference is an “opportunity for us as the UAE to get to know what’s happening now in the field of space”, said one official from the UAE Space Reconnaissance Centre, which is part of the Armed Forces.