Join the Emirates Mission: UAE Space Agency Invites Private Sector to Contribute to Asteroid Belt Venture

The UAE Space Agency has launched the Space Means Business campaign that seeks to invite the country's private sector to participate in the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt (EMA), the UAE's latest space exploration program that was officially launched in May 2023 by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

The Space Means Business campaign will formally commence with a workshop -at the UAE Space Agency on June 22, 2023- that will outline the potential areas for private sector participation, not just for the EMA but the UAE's commercial space sector as a whole. Those wishing to participate in the workshop must register by June 20, 2023, by clicking here.

The EMA's primary funder and coordinator is the UAE Space Agency. Touted as the world's first multiple-asteroid tour and landing mission to the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, the EMA spacecraft "MBR Explorer" -named after Sheikh Mohammed- will be launched into space in March 2028.

The Space Means Business campaign's announcement follows the news that at least 50% of the contracted space mission is expected to be handed over to the UAE's private sector companies. As such, what this initiative entails is an increase in the number of business opportunities for Emirati as well as international companies within the EMA.

"From software development to mission control, we are committed to a private sector first approach to developing the Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt," Mohsen Al Awadhi, Program Director at EMA, said. "This campaign to recruit businesses to the mission forms part of a long-term commitment to driving an ambitious, vibrant and fast-growing private space sector in the Emirates. The opportunities are truly endless, from software and hardware systems design and delivery through to subsystem assembly, solar power and other electrical systems development to mission operations and management."

Mohsen Al Awadhi, Program Director, EMA. Source: UAE Space Agency

In the long run, the EMA aims to create new economic and commercial opportunities, such as attracting startups, international partnerships and investment towards the UAE space sector. The Space Means Business program is thus expected to eventually create a network of potential startups, existing global space sector players as well as companies with the potential to pivot existing research and development (R&D) and operations to meet the UAE space strategies' standards.

 

However, the Space Means Business will also work as a starting point to realize the UAE Space Agency's long-term efforts to map out the ongoing innovation, R&D, and technical support offered to stakeholders within the fast-growing global space market.

"Through our work with the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technology, we are able to identify a number of technologically advanced companies operating in the Emirates today who can make commercially viable contributions to EMA and to benefit from the wider UAE space sector opportunity," Sarah Al-Amiri, UAE Space Agency Chair and Minister for Advanced Technology, said. "Our core goal here is to drive new business opportunities based around sustainable innovation and the development of heritage that will open up new opportunities in the $1 trillion global space industry."

Sarah Al-Amiri, UAE Space Agency Chair and UAE Minister for Advanced Technology. Source: UAE Space Agency

The tenets defining the Space Means Business campaign align with past and current endeavors carried out by the UAE Space Agency. Indeed, the UAE Space Agency offers Emirati space startups with business formation support, zero barrier to entry office and back-office facilities as well as mentorship and funding opportunities, as part of its Space Economic Zones initiative. Moreover, the UAE National Space Strategy also supports startup investment funding, by means of providing spacecraft assembly integration and test (AIT) facilities as a service and mission operations as a service to support innovative startups.

The EMA comprises a thirteen-year mission: a six-year spacecraft development period followed by a seven-year flight to the main asteroid belt beyond Mars. Notably, it has already been decided that the lander (a special type of spacecraft) released by MBR Explorer during the EMA's seventh asteroid encounter -expected to occur circa 2034, owing to the spacecraft's five-billion-kilometer journey- will be developed by an Emirati space startup.

To register for the opening workshop by the Space Means Business campaign before June 20, 2023, click here.

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