Business | Technology
UAE helps region go into orbit
National space industry provides much-needed fillip for pan-arab programme
- Gulf News
- Published: 00:00 December 26, 2009
- Image Credit: Supplied
- British billionaire Sir Richard Branson has unveiled a craft that could soon take tourists on a trip into space. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, which can carry six passengers and two pilots, plans to begin test flights next year and start commercial flights between 2011 and 2012
Dubai : The UAE is forging ahead with the development of a national space industry and its pioneering role can help accelerate the establishment of a pan-Arab space agency which would reduce the cost of sending satellites into orbit.
There are currently more than 20 emerging national space projects in the Middle East and Africa, a region that is rapidly evolving as one of the key growth markets for the global space industry.
The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology's (EIAST) summer launch of the UAE's first ingeniously built remote sensing satellite, DubaiSat-1 and Yahsat's planned telecommunication satellite launches is evidence that the UAE is showing the way forward for Arab countries in the creation of a regional space programme.
In recent months Abu Dhabi-based 4C GEOC has announced plans for a $1-billion Earth Observation Space Center while Abu Dhabi-based Aabar Investments has taken a $280-million (Dh1 billion), 32-per cent stake in Virgin Galactic. As part of the deal Aabar plans to build a spaceport in Abu Dhabi and will have rights to all Virgin Galactic traffic in the region.
Aabar is also setting aside $100 million to build a small satellite-launching facility, suggesting that the team plans to use the spaceport as a base for scientific research as well as space tourism.
The growth of the space industry is creating major commercial opportunities in the UAE and region, and all the major players came together at the Global Space Technology Forum in Abu Dhabi earlier this month to discuss these.
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