EIAST official: Dubai to build own satellite manufacturing base

Dubai: Dubai will be building its own space satellites within two years according to a senior official from the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST).

EIAST has already commissioned designs for a plant to manufacture space hardware.

“Building a satellite requires a large area and special crane equipment,'' said Salem Al Marri, project manager for EIAST.

“We are working on building those facilities now. We are in the design stage and we have not set a date for completion. We have plenty of time before the next satellite is launched.''

The project is not EIAST's first ground-based space project. The organization has already built a ground station to monitor Dubai Sat-1, as well as an image-receiving station and a processing centre.

Dubai Sat 1 will launch on July 25 from Kazakhstan. That satellite was built in South Korea where 14 UAE engineers have been working for two years. The new facility will allow the engineering of future satellites to take place in the UAE. Each satellite, which can weigh around 200kg, costs up to Dh200 million and two years to build and the EIAST facility could play a key role in attracting lucrative sophisticated engineering projects to Dubai.