The Council of Ministers adopted during a recent meeting, headed by Hiss Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, the project of UAE national policy for space. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, said that since its establishment, the UAE has taken proactive steps thanks to the vision of its founders to join the international space community. It wants today to take part of the race to space, and be in a leading position before the occasion of its national Golden Jubilee.
His Highness the Vice President revealed important information to researchers and specialists regarding Emirati affairs. ‘The founder of the United Arab Emirates had an insight as he received a NASA delegation in 1976 to deliver a message to his people and to peoples of the region and the world, that the United Arab Emirates and Arab ambitions are unlimited and that the UAE will continue the efforts of our ancestors in the fields of astronomy and space science.’ The UAE had such an ambition since the first years after its foundation and was looking for the right moment to apply its vision. At its recent meeting, the Cabinet approved a plan to invest 20 billion dirhams, and start implementing plans to conduct exploratory travels to space by 2021. The Emiratis are aware of the seriousness of the challenge, but they have also known other challenges they managed to overcome throughout the development march of the country.
The vision reflects the ambitions of the founding father His Highness the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, four decades ago, to take part of the dream alongside western countries. After all the technological, economic and social progress it has achieved, the UAE cannot allow it to be left behind in the race for space.
Dreams are not unreal, they allow to think of promising possibilities and overall capabilities of States and peoples. We have an economic basis, a fully integrated infrastructure system and qualified Emirati people to join the space exploration club before the Golden Jubilee in 2021.
The ambitions of the Emirates to explore space are not mere ink on paper, or a slogan to tickle feelings, but it is the promising project of a young nation based on solid grounds of technical and technological capabilities. To join the club, the Emirates developed a realistic national policy to translate ambitions into actual plans and programs, particularly at the level of the institutionalization of such efforts for the project to be based on.
The country has the adequate infrastructure and competencies as well as the potential to do much. The UAE operates more than 6 satellites worth 20 billion dirhams. It has the largest operator of space services in the region and the world’s biggest companies in the provision of satellite insurance services. It also has a positive regulatory and legislative environment, space research centers and institutions, including the Emirates Space Agency , Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, Sharjah Space Center, and Thuraya Satellite Company. Moreover, the country made a specific plan to launch the first mission to Mars on board of the Hope spacecraft in 2021.
The UAE interest in the exploration of space is, therefore, not strange. The country aspires to continue efforts already initiated years ago through a series of steps which will lead to the objective one day.
It is not a matter of luxury, nor of propaganda. The UAE is not used to make plans and programs of such nature, but it sets goals and always ensures their achievement under the wise leadership, headed by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and the Crown Prince, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme commander of the armed forces.
The Emirates enters the field of space exploration as an economic gateway for enormous future investments, as well as economic growth in the foreseeable future. Also, the entry serves the economic diversification policy, pursued by the United Arab Emirates for years now. The ambition is also an integral part of encouraging creativity and innovation among young Emiratis. The state now spends enormous resources on educating science students, whether through building institutions and academies with advanced educational curriculum based on active scientific and research partnerships, or through scientific missions, which have become one of the pillars of the scientific and educational rise of the United Arab Emirates.
Developing science is an aspect of economic development in the UAE. Science and economy are tools to achieve ambitions. To this regard, the Emirati leadership is determined to put the country among the top developed countries by the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Federation.
The structuration of the space sector through the development of a national policy helps institutionalizing it and promises a new generation of researchers in the field of space science and research.
Ambitions have no boundaries in the Emirates that has set legitimate development goals to serve its people and for the benefit of humankind, as the UAE philosophy is one of tolerance, and belief in humanitarian values, regardless of any religious, ethnic or racial considerations.
