The Middle East’s Growing Space Ambitions
There’s little awareness of scientists in the Arab world—and especially compared to other figures, but Professor Determann from Virginia Commonwealth University in Qatar tries to change that perception in his new book, Space Science and the Arab World: Astronauts, Observatories, and Nationalism in the Middle East. When Sultan bin Salman left Earth on the shuttle Discovery in 1985, he became the first Arab, first Muslim and first member of a royal family in space. Twenty-five years later, the discovery of a planet 500 light years away by the Qatar Exoplanet Survey – subsequently named ‘Qatar-1b’ – was evidence of the cutting-edge space science projects taking place across the Middle East. This book identifies the individuals, institutions and national ideologies that enabled Arab astronomers and researchers to gain support for space exploration when Middle East governments lacked interest. Jörg Matthias Determann shows that the conquest of space became associated with national prestige, security, economic growth and the idea of an ‘Arab renaissance’ more generally. read the full interview with Professor Determann here https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/middle-east-space-ambitions/561776/. The book is available on Amazon https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/middle-east-space-ambitions/561776/