Dubai is setting up its own spacecraft manufacturing facilities to help build what will become the first satellite to be completed in the UAE.
Called DubaiSat-3, the remote sensing bird’s development will be led by a core team of 45 UAE experts,…
Dubai is setting up its own spacecraft manufacturing facilities to help build what will become the first satellite to be completed in the UAE.
Called DubaiSat-3, the remote sensing bird’s development will be led by a core team of 45 UAE experts, according to the Dubai government’s Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST).
The first two years of DubaiSat-3’s construction will take place in South Korea under local manufacturer Satrec Initiative (SI), which built EIAST’s previous two earth imaging satellites. The satellite will then be transferred to a “clean room” EIAST is creating at its headquarters in Dubai for the final one and a half years of its development.
EIAST, which was created in 2006 to promote home-grown science and innovation, said the project will enable it to develop advanced satellite missions on UAE soil.
Chairman Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori explained: “The completion of this project will underline the success of our strategy to develop our own human capital and to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure and technologies towards establishing the UAE among the most advanced nations in the world.”
It plans to hire additional UAE nationals to build out the rest of the project, including its ground infrastructure, as the programme gets underway.
DubaiSat-3 represents the final leg of EIAST’s three stage approach to join an elite group of space nations that can claim to operate satellites they have built themselves.
EIAST’s first satellite, DubaiSat-1, was fully developed by SI in South Korea before it was launched in 2009. Its second sees UAE engineers work jointly with SI to develop DubaiSat-2, which is due to be launched by a Russian Dnepr LV rocket later this year.
Al Mansoori said: “The DubaiSat-3 is an important project as it tests our own satellite manufacturing capabilities and ultimately gives insights to further improve future satellite development programmes.
“Establishing our own satellite manufacturing capabilities has been made possible with strategic partnerships with global leaders in satellite development. Looking ahead, we aim to achieve full capabilities, knowledge, facilities and research ability to develop advanced satellite missions on UAE soil following the completion of the DubaiSat-3 project.”
Salem Humaid Al Marri, assistant director general for scientific and technical affairs at EIAST, declined to disclose financial details. When asked whether the UAE could next look to develop a telecoms satellite, he said his organisation was focused on earth observation spacecraft for the time being, with the larger birds being launched by operators Thuraya and Yahsat.
