Excitingly, every weekend there will be a stellar calendar of events to enjoy and bazaar can reveal that thanks to TSCK and KFAS, the super-star social humanoid robot Sophia, from Hong Kong based Hanson Robotics will also be visiting! This is an out of this world opportunity to interact and engage with ground-breaking and world leading AI in the main hall of TSCK.

Sophia is the first ever robot to receive a nationality, becoming a citizen of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 2017 at the Future Investments Summit in Riyadh. Some of her responses have made global news when she has been presented to audiences in Q&A sessions, where she has been shown to have a cheeky sense of humor. Sophia uses artificial intelligence, visual data processing and facial recognition, and has been designed with the ability to learn and develop. She is connected to the AI cloud using blockchain technology, which means that when similar robots upload their collected data, Sophia can access this information too, so it’s not solely only her ‘learning’ that makes her smarter. You can also engage with Sophia on social media using the hashtag #AskSophia and #SophiaAsks. Ultimately, according to Hanson Robotics, “[It is Sophia’s] quest to learn, and develop into a super-intelligent, benevolent being.”

On the roster for Space Month presentations at TSCK, you will find Orbital Space, which through its volunteer-run project is aiming for the stars to be the first company in the Middle East to make space accessible to everyone through CubeSat technology. Not just a ‘manned’ mission, this project brings together eleven men and five women from diverse fields of practice and expertise, and should prove an inspiration to young women hoping to study STEM subjects. The project plan is to take two years to develop and build a 10x10x10 cm3 nanosatellite to be used for space research. CubeSats are typically launched as auxiliary payloads on already planned space missions so in discussion opportunities you may want to ask the Orbital Space CubeSat Project Team, on which rocket will their CubeSat be hitching a ride, while it makes history as Kuwait’s first satellite launch! Orbital Space will also show you how to track satellites and build DIY rockets and satellite parts during their time with Space Month participants.

While Space Month is bound to be fascinating for all science types, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to enjoy the activities. With typical foresight TSCK has curated a schedule that encompasses all ages and levels of interest, where you can interact and engage with the activities as much as you like. Perhaps you are less interested in the dark side of the moon and more interested in the science of photography; there is a workshop in Space Month for you! Spread over a course of two days, you will be intrigued to learn how to take photos of the moon using telescopes.

Other workshops for families and kids to participate in include, but are not limited to; Mission to Mars, The Solar System, Kids STEM labs, interactive story-telling for your younger space cadets, and LEGO Mindstorms workshops. Additionally, over all four weekends of Space Month children can moon around in the Junior Astronaut program, specially designed to capture their fertile imaginations. Coming back down to earth, if your idea of space exploration is to see how far your gluteus maximus spreads, then iMax is for you. Sit back and take in Journey to Space which will be showing for the entire month, or, for one weekend only, catch the return of Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway and Jessica Chastain. With such an action-packed Space Month ahead at The Scientific Center Kuwait, you’d have to be on another planet to miss it!

Space Month runs from October 3rd – November 2nd. The Scientific Center of Kuwait is located on Gulf Road, Salmiya, Block one. Follow their Instagram account @scicenterkw and visit the website tsck.org.kw for a detailed schedule of activities and to purchase tickets for Space Month workshops, as well as for more information on The Scientific Center of Kuwait, Discovery Place, Aquarium, IMAX Theater, and Dhow Harbor. Featured image courtesy of TSCK.