The US and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to boost bilateral cooperation on a range of civil space priorities from science and exploration to the study of our home planet, NASA announced Tuesday.
The agreement follows NASA chief Bill Nelson’s visit to Saudi Arabia two months ago, where he met with Saudi Space Agency officials to discuss deepening the partnership between the two nations.
The details: The agreement established the legal framework for bilateral cooperation between the two nations, which will allow them to begin collaborating on operations in orbit, STEM education efforts, and aeronautics. The Saudi Space Agency specifically highlighted sharing scientific data and participating in workshops together as two early areas of cooperation.
In 2022, Saudi Arabia also signed on to the Artemis Accords, a non-binding multilateral framework that encourages responsible and sustainable operations in orbit.
Saudi space wins: The Kingdom is looking to grow its profile in space and announced a number of milestones this year, including:
- Establishing a Centre for Space Futures in partnership with the World Economic Forum
- Participating in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space session last month
- Hosting a meeting between SpaceX’s Gwynne Shotwell and Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology Abdullah bin Amer Al-Sawaha during recent visit to the US
Blast off: In 2023, two Saudi astronauts—Ali Alqarni and Rayyanah Barnawi—flew to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of Axiom’s Ax-2 mission. The astronauts’ primary missions were research and outreach, but the flight also highlighted the growing relationship in space between the two nations.
