UAE Space Agency Eyes Local Launch With New Strategy

DUBAI—The United Arab Emirates is looking to develop an indigenous launch option as part of a broader pivot of the country’s space agency to secure a share of the growing space economy.

The years since the agency’s founding in 2014 were largely driven by government-led initiatives to create a basic underpinning of some private companies, research centers and broader skills. That is now changing.

“We are developing our own space strategy where our primary focus is on the space economy,” says Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, chairman of the UAE Space Agency, speaking at Dubai Airshow. The ambition is to be active across the entire value chain of space, he added in an interview, with a target of around 2031 to have the broad set of capabilities up and running.

“The main goal is to make the UAE the destination for space economy in the region,” Al Falasi adds. The strategy is due for completion soon.

Space companies locally initially focused on upstream services such as data provision, but they are increasingly moving into space manufacturing and similar activities. Launch is among the issues next on the agenda, Al Falasi says, with the UAE looking to establish a spaceport to have some level of autonomy.

The spaceport plan is not without challenges. Airspace in the UAE is tight given the scale of commercial air traffic because of carriers such as Emirates. The UAE’s geographic location also is not optimal for launch, which could make the commercial prospects for such a business challenging, so the government is considering a government-owned and operated model, with opportunities for some commercial returns. The agency is still scouting for the right location for the space port, but Al Falasi says there should be places where such an operation could work within the country.

The UAE also wants to get into the launcher business. That would be a step-by-step process, the space agency boss adds.