SpaceWar.com reports: “A Kinetica 1 rocket has placed the Arab Satellite 813 into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, marking a new phase of cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and China in space activities, according to the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites.

The satellite, described as a multirole mission platform, was launched from the Gobi Desert site in northwestern China and injected into its planned orbit on Wednesday.

Arab Satellite 813 carries a hyperspectral imager, a panchromatic imager and an atmospheric polarimeter designed to collect data on vegetation, water bodies and land use, as well as to support detailed mapping and surface feature detection.

Mission planners will use these instruments to generate datasets for environmental surveys and climate change research, expanding regional capacity to monitor ecosystems and land-use change.

The spacecraft is the first joint space project involving multiple Arab states and is led by the UAE, with its name honoring the year 813 and the rise of Baghdad’s House of Wisdom, a period associated with intensive scientific work in the region…”