MANAMA/DUBAI: Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) successfully launched and deployed advanced satellites on Saturday, marking significant progress in their space exploration and technology capabilities. The satellites were deployed aboard a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

Bahrain’s National Space Science Agency (NSSA) announced the successful deployment of Al-Munther, the kingdom’s first domestically designed and developed satellite. The 3U CubeSat, operating in a sun-synchronous orbit at 550 km, is the region’s first satellite to integrate artificial intelligence for onboard image processing. Al-Munther is equipped with an Earth observation camera, a cybersecurity system, and a unique broadcast function that transmits Bahrain’s national anthem and a message from King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa from space.

Meanwhile, the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) successfully launched EtihadSat, the first radar satellite fully developed by its team. MBRSC confirmed the successful reception of EtihadSat’s first signal at its ground station in Dubai. This achievement enhances the UAE’s expertise in remote sensing and radar imaging, offering new opportunities in environmental monitoring, urban planning, and disaster management.

Separately, a Falcon 9 rocket with a Crew Dragon fixed to its top blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Friday, carrying a four-member team bound for the orbital outpost. But the real focus is what their arrival enables: The long-overdue departure from the ISS of NASA duo Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams.

The two former US Navy pilots have been stuck aboard the orbital lab since June after the Boeing Starliner spacecraft they were testing on its maiden crewed voyage suffered propulsion issues and was deemed unfit to fly them back to Earth. Instead, Starliner returned empty, without experiencing further major issues – and what was meant to have been a days-long roundtrip for Wilmore and Williams has now stretched past nine months.

What began as a technical failure has also spiraled into a political flashpoint, as President Donald Trump and his close advisor, Elon Musk – who leads SpaceX – have repeatedly suggested that former president Joe Biden “abandoned” the pair intentionally and rejected a plan to bring them back sooner. That accusation caused uproar in the space community, especially since Musk did not provide any specifics.

The plan for the duo’s return has been unchanged ever since they were reassigned to SpaceX’s Crew-9, which arrived in September aboard another Dragon carrying only two crewmembers – instead of the usual four – to make room for Wilmore and Williams. When Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen pointed this out on X, Musk lashed out at him, using a slur for mentally disabled people. Some retired astronauts rushed to Mogensen’s defense – while Wilmore appeared to back Musk, saying his comments must have been “factual”, though he admitted he was not privy to any details.

Trump, meanwhile, has drawn attention for his bizarre remarks about the situation, referring to Williams, a decorated former naval captain, as “the woman with the wild hair” and speculating about the personal dynamic between the two. “They’ve been left up there – I hope they like each other, maybe they love each other, I don’t know,” he said during a recent White House press conference.

Meanwhile, Musk said Saturday its massive Starship rocket would leave for Mars at the end of 2026 with Tesla humanoid robot Optimus onboard, adding that human landings could follow “as soon as 2029”. “Starship departs for Mars at the end of next year, carrying Optimus. If those landings go well, then human landings may start as soon as 2029, although 2031 is more likely,” Musk said on his X social network.

Musk, who is also the Tesla CEO, brought out the company’s Optimus robots at an event last year. He said the dancing robots would one day be able to do menial tasks, as well as offer friendship, and expected them to retail for $20,000 to $30,000. Starship – the world’s largest and most powerful rocket – is key to Musk’s long-term vision of colonizing Mars. NASA is also awaiting a modified version of Starship as a lunar lander for its Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon this decade. – Agencies