DUBAI: A team of Kuwaiti youth participated in Expo Dubai 2020 with an ambitious space rocket project, as a step towards exploring space technology and proving their capabilities. "Our participation in this global event is to introduce the world to Kuwait's achievements and to represent it in an honorable way," founder of Kuwait Space Rocket (KSR) project Naser Ashknani said.
The KSR space rocket project is a Kuwaiti project to build and launch a liquid-propellant rocket into space, Ashknani said, adding, it is "the first of its kind in the Arab world," expected to be launched at the end of this year. The launching of the rocket will be through three stages, starting with a trial stage (KSR-1A), which aims to confirm the rocket readiness without any problem with travel distance of about five kilometers, he said. The second stage is the construction of (KSR-1B) rocket with a new engine that aims to reach space, a step that also seeks to develop the first rocket over a distance of about 30 km, he added.
As for the last and future stage (KSR-2) the launch of the rocket will be with a range of 116 km, through which it will cross outer space and "achieve the dream," Ashknani said. The Kuwaiti Space Rocket project started in January 2018 by Kuwaiti youth Ashknani, engineers Sulieman Al-Fuhaid and Fahad Al-Fahad. They devoted the first year of the project on the initial designs and in 2019, the team began manufacturing KSR-1 and the project was fully completed in January 2020. - KUNA