Dubai’s Space Centre to Partner With Airbus, SpaceX

Dubai’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) is now taking substantial steps towards fulfilling their space program. They signed a partnership agreement with Airbus Defence and Space for the Emirates Lunar Mission in addition to UAE SpaceX collaboration to launch Emirati imaging satellite.

This statement was made on the margins of the International Aeronautical Congress when the MBRSC’s Deputy Director-General signed the memorandum of understanding.

MBRSC has also selected Elon Musk’s SpaceX as a launch partner for their satellite project. They plan to launch the second Emirati satellite, MBZ-SAT, into orbit on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket will carry MBZ-SAT around the end of 2023 or in early 2024.

MBRSC signs a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus Defence and Space to collaborate on the Emirates Lunar Mission in the field of material testing in-situ on the surface of the Moon by means of the material adhesive demonstration (MAD) experiment.#IAC2021 pic.twitter.com/9jwxVN81D3

— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) October 27, 2021

Dubai-Based Space Centre and Airbus: Collaboration on the Emirates Lunar Mission

The World Trade Center in Dubai has witnessed the agreement between Salem AlMarri and Andreas Lindenthal, deputy director-general of MBRSC and Airbus’ head of business operations and products.

The signed MoU demonstrates the two parties cooperation in carrying out the Emirates Lunar Mission. Through the material adhesive demonstration (MAD) experiment, the two organizations will work on material testing in the soil at a lunar surface site.

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“The agreement underlines the common will of both MBRSC and Airbus to advance our cooperation and join forces in our effort to learn more about the lunar surface,” MBRSC director-general, Yousuf Hamad AlShaibani stated.

The MoU also addresses the scope of other activities, including exploring the implementation of an end-to-end In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) demonstration and drawing on core capabilities for lunar surface operations such as mobility, robotics, and regolith processing from each other.

Airbus expressed their honor to the UAE in this regard, “The UAE has made great strides in the field of space with a successful mission to Mars through the Hope Probe, as well as sending the first Emirati astronaut to the International Space Station.”

AFP via Getty Images

“As the country is embarking on its next ambitious space projects, we’re honored to be signing this MoU with MBRSC, which is a strategic step to expand our contribution to supporting the government achieve its goal of becoming a well-recognized and leading country in the field of space exploration,” said Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Space Systems at Airbus.

MBRSC also intends to land their Rashid lunar rover with the support of iSpace Lunar Lander the following year.

UAE SpaceX Collaboration on the Space Satellite Projects

Following KhalifaSat, MBZ-SAT is the second Emirati satellite 100% developed and manufactured by the Emirati engineer team. This UAE’s most advanced commercial imaging satellite will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of UAE SpaceX partnership.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket is a reusable, two-stage rocket developed and produced to transport people and payloads into space.

According to AlShibani, the key attributes of readiness, reliability, and technological expertise that SpaceX possesses regarding this project are why they enthusiastically chose SpaceX as their launch provider. The MBZ-SAT launch is a steppingstone for MBRSC to facilitate prospects with SpaceX while also expanding and diversifying their partners, notably in respect of launch partners.

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The satellite, which will be launched towards the end of 2023 or early 2024, is 3m x 5m in size and weighs around 700kg. It enhances the image capture resolution by more than double of the preceding launched satellites. It will also triple the current capacity of downlink data transmission speed.

The availability of automatic scheduling and processing system of MBZ-SAT satellite images will result in more than ten times the images produced today.

The California-based space company also expressed their excitement about UAE SpaceX collaboration. “We’re honored to support this mission, and we look forward to the successful launch of MBZ-SAT and many future projects,” said Tom Ochinero, SpaceX’s vice president of commercial sales.