Symbolism of Bahraini satellite "AlMunther" logo explained
Manama, Mar. 14 (BNA): The components of the first fully Bahraini satellite "AlMunther" logo are meant to reflect its mission and the team behind it, National Space Science Agency (NSSA) said.
Standard protocol for space missions requires designing a specific logo that portrays the main objective and indicates the identity of the organization or countries responsible for it, NSSA CEO Dr. Mohamed Ebrahim Al Aseeri explained.
AlMunther's name and mission logo were unveiled on Sunday by National Security Advisor, Royal Guard Commander and the Secretary General of the Supreme Defense Council His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa.
This is a historic moment in the nation's progress led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Al Aseeri said.
The logo was designed by NSSA space engineer Aysha Al Haram to depict the outstanding efforts of the Bahrain space team working on Al Munther satellite, he said.
He added that they are making history in driving the progress of advanced sciences in Bahrain, which is a strong indicator of a nation's progress.
NSSA's Al Haram expressed pride in seeing the logo she worked on get unveiled by HH Shaikh Nasser.
The design of the logo is inspired by its main objective, which is capturing images of the Kingdom of Bahrain and its territorial waters, she explained.
"The images will be used to conduct several studies and build an updated national database of satellite images."
The logo shows a camera lens through which the map of the kingdom is seen. The map has been drawn by lines and dots that symbolize the Bahraini Artificial Intelligent innovations carried by the satellite.
This AI innovation will be used to process and analyze space images before sending them to ground station.
The stars in the logo indicate the number of Bahraini engineers who worked in designing, building and testing AlMunther.
They have worked hard to contribute to the development of the space sector in Bahrain, in implementation of the vision of HM the King and the directives of HRH Crown Prince and Prime Minister, she said.
The logo is flanked by the Bahrain flag on both sides to indicate that the satellite is built completely by Bahraini engineers, she added.
"The name of the satellite in the logo was written in Arabic to reflect the Arab and Islamic identity of the Kingdom."
Speaking on the details of the satellite, Dr. Al Aseeri said that it was the first of its kind in the Middle East that is equipped with AI technology to process and reduce the size of satellite images using deep learning.
He explained that this innovation is implemented to solve limited communication bandwidth, which is one of the critical challenges facing nano-satellites.
Processing data and images onboard the satellite enables it to provide accurate information in real-time to be used in remote sensing applications, he said.
Al Haram indicated that AlMunther also addressed cybersecurity aspects, which are of the main challenges facing the space sector and national security.
In this regards, Bahraini software has been developed to encrypt data sent and received by the satellite, she said.
"The system identifies the satellite’s operator using fuzzy logic algorithm to protect the satellite from hacking."
AlMunther will give a boost to NSSA efforts in space research and contribute to finding solutions to challenges facing satellites in their orbits.
NSSA works on highlighting all Bahraini space achievements by documenting them in scientific papers presented in specialized and well known conferences and journals.
