DUBAI, UAE (DEWA PR) — Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has achieved a new world record through its launching of the 3U nanosatellite DEWA-SAT1 in collaboration with NanoAvionics. It has proved once again that it is one of the most prominent global utilities and the most distinguished in all its operations. After the success of the pilot project, DEWA has become the world’s first utility to use nanosatellites to improve the maintenance and planning of electricity and water networks.

The launching of the satellite is part of DEWA’s Space-D programme launched by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in January 2021 to consolidate Dubai’s leadership in developing and using the latest global technologies. Through Space-D, DEWA researches the use of space technology to support utilities to improve their operations and planning. This will support sustainable development and a green economy in the UAE and worldwide.

UPDATE: The launch has been delayed due to weather. New launch date TBD.

A Japanese H-2A rocket is set to launch the first Arab mission to Mars from the Tanegashima Space Center on Wednesday.

Some interesting news from Dubai. Al Maktoum Airport is to be reinvented as an aviation hub that can handle supersonic, hypersonic and even space planes in addition to aircraft. Steve Nichols reports. The announcement, made in June, is part of the Dubai 10X initiative, with Dubai Aviation Engineering Projects working on the project in partnership with Dubai Future Foundation (DFF). This means DWC is to become a “multi-mode super-port” with […]

DUBAI (MBRSC PR) — The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced that 9 candidates have qualified for the final evaluation phase of the UAE Astronaut Programme.

The Programme was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, as part of the UAE National Space Programme.

It aims to train and prepare a team of Emiratis to be sent to space for various scientific missions. This supports the intensive preparations to send the first Emirati and Arab astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) in April 2019.

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The Soyuz MS-08 rocket is launched with Expedition 55 Soyuz Commander Oleg Artemyev of Roscosmos and flight engineers Ricky Arnold and Drew Feustel of NASA, Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Artemyev, Arnold, and Feustel will spend the next five months living and working aboard the International Space Station. (Credit: NASA/Joel Kowsky)

DUBAI (Dubai Media Office PR) — Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said that sending the first Emirati astronaut to space will herald the beginning of a new era for the UAE and represents another step towards achieving the country’s vision and aspirations for the space sector.

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WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo: Made in America, financed in the Middle East. (Photo credit: Mark Greenberg)

While Europe lurches from sovereign debt crisis to debt crisis, the United States struggles with a ballooning budget deficit, and investors worldwide pull back on spending, there is one area of the world that still has a mountain of funds to spend. It’s a reality could have a major effect on the path of the nascent commercial spaceflight industry in the years ahead.

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The seven-state United Arab Emirates is quickly becoming the center of the Middle East’s space effort, with agreements with Virgin Galactic for a suborbital spaceport and Bigelow Aerospace to develop an orbital spaceflight program. In the process, it is riding the crest of a new commercial wave in how human spaceflight will be conducted.

UAE might have the first commercial suborbital spaceport outside of the United States should the American government allows Virgin Galactic to export its WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo system.

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Bigelow Aerospace's planned Sundancer space station

EIAST PRESS RELEASE

The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) and Bigelow Aerospace LLC, an organisation dedicated to providing affordable options for spaceflight to national space agencies and corporate clients, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to drive joint efforts to usher in a new era in human spaceflight based on innovative technologies, affordability, commercial sustainability, and strong international partnerships.

As per the MoU, EIAST and Bigelow Aerospace will explore joint efforts to establish a next-generation commercial human spaceflight programme for Dubai and the UAE, leveraging recent advances in human spaceflight. They will work to create a world-class microgravity research and development programme with a potential focus on advanced biotechnology applications, and a variety of other commercial space-related activities.

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WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo (credit: Virgin Galactic)

Virgin Galactic is in “advanced discussions” with investors in Dubai about creating a spaceport there for launches of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle.

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Dubai Seen Ripe for Space Tourism Xpress “Speaking at the [Orion] Congress, Brian Binnie, test pilot of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipOne (SS1), the prototype of what is poised to become the first commercial carrier for tourists in the orbit, said: ‘Dubai is perfectly positioned to be at the leading edge of this [space] industry.’” Dubai Could be Take-off Point for Space Tourism Khaleej Times “The cradle of civilisation could form the […]