Within the continuous coordination between the National Space Science Agency and the Ministry of Education, as part of NSSA’s community and outreach program to raise awareness of the space field and its various sciences and applications, to inculcate scientific concepts related to space in the minds of youth, and to meet the call of the honorable educator, Professor Noura Isa Al-Dossary, Director of the East Riffa Intermediate Girls School. Ms. Shaima Shawqi Almeer, a member of the Bahrain Space Team, participated in representing the NSSA and presenting an educational lecture to the school’s members entitled “A Virtual Journey to Mars,” on Monday, March 8, 2021.

The lecture began with a brief overview about the National Space Science Agency and its most important objectives and projects and introducing the Bahrain Space Team. After that, the content discussed was mostly prominent of how to make use of space data and technologies to solve problems related to the surface of the Earth using the latest technologies, including Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Machine Learning, and much more.

The lecture also shed light on the latest and most prominent projects implemented by the Agency’s Satellite Imagery and Analysis laboratory, after which the lecture began with the school’s members on a hypothetical trip to the red planet (Mars). During this interesting trip, the properties and environment of Mars and what distinguishes it from the rest of the planets of the solar system were discussed, and the reasons which made it the focus of scientists’ attention, and the efforts made by mankind in order to identify and explore it, and the importance of expanding investment in exploring the Red Planet.

Then the lecture moved to the topic of the marvelous achievement of the sisterly United Arab Emirates through its successful launch of the Hope Probe to explore the Red Planet, and the broad hopes this probe carried for all Arabs and Muslims, which had an impact on motivating Arab youth, and how the Kingdom of Bahrain lived and shared those historical moments with the brothers in the Emirates. And the pride and we felt among the citizens for this great Arab achievement. Consequently, the space was opened for the participating students to ask their various questions and inquiries to be answered by Ms. Almeer, and the lecture received great interest from the school’s affiliates and aroused their passion, which contributed to the achievement of the desired goals of the Agency.

Concluding the lecture, Ms. Shaima Almeer said: my participation comes within the framework of continuous cooperation between the National Space Science Agency and the Ministry of Education. As the NSSA aims, by providing lectures and awareness and educational workshops, to introduce all segments of society, especially students from different educational levels, to the importance of space science and the latest trends in the uses of space technologies and related applications to serve development. It also provides them with examples of future sciences and their uses, which are linked in one way or another to the requirements of modern life and constitute one of the elements of the fourth technological revolution.