The man charged with propelling the UAE's space centre into a golden era of prosperity has set out an ambitious five-year vision for further human space flights, more satellite development and interplanetary missions.
Salam Al Marri, who was appointed director general of Dubai's Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in December, told The National of the importance of collaborating with other nations in this world to explore other worlds.
He spoke of his plans for all four members of the nation's astronaut corps to be given the opportunity to travel into space.
“Today, I think the country is definitely focused on building exploration missions, human space flight, Earth-observation and remote-sensing satellites,” he said.
We want to have an ecosystem of suppliers, supply chain, local supply chain manufacturers and companies that we can work with
Salem Al Marri
“We have four astronauts and our objective is definitely to fly all of these astronauts and make sure they have meaningful and long-duration missions.”
Engineers have built the Arab world’s first Moon mission that the space centre hopes to launch this year.
It is part of a long-term Moon exploration programme Mr Al Marri wants to develop, which would involve multiple rovers and orbiters.
Need for local space expertise
To help the private space sector grow, Mr Al Marri wants to secure more local partners for space projects, instead of foreign ones, as in some of the previous missions when the UAE’s space sector was not as developed.
“We want to have an ecosystem of suppliers, supply chain, local supply chain manufacturers and companies that we can work with, to subcontract elements of our projects with, and then the rest we do in-house, or at least the integration,” he said.
However, international partnerships remain crucial for the space centre to help carry out some of the more complex missions which lie ahead.
The space centre worked with three US universities to build a Mars spacecraft from scratch — the pioneering Hope probe — which has been successfully transmitting data since February 9, 2021.
A partnership with Nasa is helping the UAE’s four astronauts train for future, long-duration, missions.
“Without the element of international cooperation, whether you're a small or big agency, you're really not going to survive very long,” said Mr Al Marri.
“We’re always open to work with everyone. If we look at launches, we’ve launched with Russia, Japan, the Europeans and we’ve launched with SpaceX.”
From fledgling satellite programme to Mars mission
When Mr Al Marri was growing up in the Emirates in the 1980s there was no national space programme to join, yet alone help to lead.
He worked in telecoms after graduating from university in 2003, around the same time as the idea for a space centre began to take off.
Two years later, 23-year-old Mr Al Marri became one of only four other engineers who were hand-picked by the government to work on the UAE’s first satellite, DubaiSat-1.
It was the start of a momentous journey for Mr Al Marri, with some distance still to travel.
“Back then, there wasn’t a Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre — it was more of just ‘let’s build satellites',” said Mr Al Marri, who graduated from the Dubai Men’s College with a bachelor's degree in business information technology.
“The idea was to develop a space programme and build it up from there.”
The satellite programme helped set up the Emirates Institution for Advanced Sciences and Technology in 2005, which would eventually become the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre nine years later, the organisation behind the UAE’s most successful space missions.
These include the UAE Astronaut Programme, the Hope Mars Mission, domestically built satellites and a coming Dh500 million Mars Science City.
Today, aged 39, and after 17 years of helping the space centre grow, Mr Al Marri is proud to be given the chance to lead it to even greater heights.
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
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Key figures in the life of the fort
Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.
Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.
Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.
Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.
Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.
Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
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Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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MATCH INFO
Manchester City 1 Chelsea 0
De Bruyne (70')
Man of the Match: Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City)
Traits of Chinese zodiac animals
Tiger:independent, successful, volatile
Rat:witty, creative, charming
Ox:diligent, perseverent, conservative
Rabbit:gracious, considerate, sensitive
Dragon:prosperous, brave, rash
Snake:calm, thoughtful, stubborn
Horse:faithful, energetic, carefree
Sheep:easy-going, peacemaker, curious
Monkey:family-orientated, clever, playful
Rooster:honest, confident, pompous
Dog:loyal, kind, perfectionist
Boar:loving, tolerant, indulgent
Results
Stage seven
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 3:20:24
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 5s
General Classification
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates, in 25:38:16
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers, at 22s
3. Pello Bilbao (ESP) Bahrain-Victorious, at 48s
