The King Abdulaziz City of Science and Technology (KACST) spotted two locally-designed satellites as they were in orbit at low altitude for the first time over Saudi Arabia, according to SPA.
The SaudiSat-5A and SaudiSat-5B were launched last Friday (December 7), into space from China, via a Long March 2D launch vehicle from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert.
The remote sensing satellites have been developed and manufactured at KACST.
The KACST control room succeeded in establishing contact with the two satellites last Friday at 10.25am and 10.26am respectively over Saudi Arabia, confirming its expected orbital trajectory.
They are the second generation of Saudi-made Earth observation satellites, replacing the SaudiSat-2 (launched in 2004) and SaudiSat-3 (launched in 2007) remote sensing satellites that were also manufactured by KACST.
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