02/09/2023

"LEAP23" Session Discusses Space and Age of Discovery

A panel discussion was held today at the LEAP23 conference entitled "Space and the Age of Discovery 3.0", which was hosted by Dr. John Mankins, founder of Artemis Innovations, Gene Poynter, co-founder and CEO of Space Perspective, and Jeffrey Manber, President International, and Space Stations Voyager Space, the President for Solutions and Products in the Saudi Telecom Group STC, Saud Al-Sheraihi, and the President and CEO of Arabsat Al-Hamidi Al-Enezi and moderated by the Managing Director of Space Sector, Saudi Space Commission, Frank Salzgeber.

The founder of Artemis Innovations, who worked as a physicist at NASA for 15 years, explained that launching a new space station costs billions of dollars and requires massive infrastructure, indicating that his company began research to harness the energy in space and how to bring it to Earth, stressing that the future of space will be completely reshaped over the next ten years.

Meanwhile, Jane Poynter, the co-founder and CEO of Space Perspective, talked about commercial work in space to develop the infrastructure of society and the possibility of conducting space tourism trips in the future, which aims to take as many people from around the world into space.

Serving for over 30 years in the Space industry and owner of a major commercial company that has worked with 30 countries, the International head of Voyager Space, Jeffrey Manber, touched on his great passion for changing the process of launching space rockets and establishing commercial space stations.

While the President for Solutions and Products in the Saudi Telecom Group STC, Saud Al-Sheraihi, stressed that the company works to connect everyone and acts as a digital enabler by building cloud services to support services.

For his part, the CEO of Arabsat Al-Hamidi Al-Enezi pointed out that his company is going through a phase of transformation with a new strategy to build projects and solutions for business in the Middle East through more than ten satellites, indicating that there are plans for new satellites and a strategy to expand in the ground stations, as the company aspires to take the region to a new level in compliance with Kingdom’s Vision 2030.

Space Architect Phnam Bagley, from Nonfiction Design Foundation, presented, in a separate session, several technical products that relied on integrating paths of knowledge in different fields as part of the positive impact solutions that were adopted to meet the requirements of sustainable development and effective planning to provide a healthy life both on Earth or in space. Showcasing a "headphone" device that belongs to future technology, it fits with the nature of the human body, 90% of ears and enables translation into eleven languages, in addition to a device for treating insomnia and sleeping disorders that stimulates a part of the brain and tells it how to sleep for about eight hours in complete comfort. Bagley also shared with the audience new pharmaceutical pills, each of which is 12 mm in size and contains a camera that enables doctors to monitor and diagnose patients’ conditions in any part of the world, as well as a device that helps in cases of fire and allows vision through flames and smoke, enabling the injured to be seen and quickly rescued. He also presented an innovation of a technological kitchen and a laser cooker capable of making and recycling food to help live in space for as long as possible, especially on the moon and Mars.

SpaceX astronaut Dr. Sian Proctor recounted her inspiring experience leading the first civilian space flight and the challenges she faced, during the International Technology Conference LEAP 23, indicating that she was born and raised on the island of Guam, which includes a NASA-affiliated air base where her father used to work at the control station, which triggered her passion about space since childhood.

The first African-American female astronaut indicated that she was determined to succeed and never give up, and joined the "analog space exploration and simulation" program, and after training and tests that lasted six months, she was chosen not only to go to space but also to lead the SpaceX capsule, at the age of 50 years old. Dr. Proctor considered the magical moment in her experience when opening the door of the spacecraft and watching the planet Earth, indicating that she had succeeded in drawing a watercolor painting, a skill she learned during the quarantine at home during the Coronavirus period, thus becoming the first American to paint in space.