Today's Edition
Amina Al Kitbi (Dubai)
Engineer Salem Al Marri, Director-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, revealed that the centre aspires to host 500 or 1000 male and female engineers in the upcoming period, in line with the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
Al Marri stated: “We want to localise space industry technologies and put them in the hands of our citizens.” The centre is working on developing national capabilities and increasing economic contributions to the space sector to diversify the national economy. The centre has succeeded in launching ambitious space missions, testifying to the UAE leadership’s commitment to developing the country’s scientific and technological capabilities and enhancing international cooperation, inspiring the future generation of space explorers.
UAE citizens have been able to work on important space projects, including the Hope Probe project, KhalifaSat project, DubaiSat project, in addition to the Rashid Explorer project, and most recently, the UAE Astronaut Programme, Al Marri pointed out.
The results of the Hope Probe project make significant contributions to the global Mars exploration effort. Scientific information from the project is regularly disseminated, and trajectory data, with a capacity of approximately 1,000 gigabytes, is shared with 200 scientific and research entities around the world. The data is also available to students and researchers interested in space science through a free platform provided by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, Al Marri noted. Over the years, the project has contributed to revealing a series of unique and important data that have not been observed before, changing humanity’s understanding of the Red Planet.
Al Marri also confirmed that UAE Astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi is currently in the United States as part of the UAE Astronaut Programme, which prepares UAE astronaut teams to participate in manned missions to the International Space Station and other destinations in space. The programme is the first of its kind in the Arab region, providing the training needed for the country’s astronauts to represent the UAE and the Arab world in future space missions and conduct scientific experiments that support the global space exploration journey.
