Supreme Space Council established in UAE

The Cabinet of the United Arab Emirates has announced the establishment of the Supreme Space Council to further develop the space technology sector.

The new organisation was chaired by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council and Deputy Prime Minister and UAE Minister of Defence.

The new council will develop plans and strategies for space security, critical infrastructure management, and will set the UAE’s national priorities in the space sector, including in terms of capacity building.

Today, the space sector is estimated to be worth US$ 400bn globally. The UAE’s national space sector is made up of 57 organisations employing more than three thousand people.

These include five space research centres, three universities offering space degrees, and world-renowned satellite operators Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) and Thuraya. The UAE’s investment in the space sector has already exceeded AED 22bn.

On 25 September 2019, the UAE made global space history by sending the country’s first citizen on an expedition to the ISS. Hazza Al Mansouri launched alongside cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka (crew commander) and flight engineer Jessica Meir from the Gagarin Launch at Baikonur Cosmodrome as a member of the Soyuz MS-15 crewed space mission.

Source: Khaleej Times