ABU DHABI // The UAE and France are close to signing a deal on space cooperation, including training and technology, according to the president of the French Spatial Agency.
Should the agreement go through, Jean-Yves Le Gall said Emirati scientists would travel to the agency’s space centre in Toulouse, south-west France, for training.
“We are very interested to continue to be a partner of the UAE because we are very impressed by the dynamism of its programme and what it is doing,” he said in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. “From our side, we have some strong expertise in the field.”
The space programme of the agency is divided into five categories, including launchers, Earth observation, telecommunication, science and defence. “We’re working with 22 member states and we’re considering with the UAE Space Agency the possibility to use our agency’s skills to perform the Mars mission,” Mr Le Gall said.
“In my opinion, this could be in the field of real scientific expertise, which we have, including [technology]. We’re already on Mars with Nasa, the European Space Agency and Russia but we also have a huge space centre in Toulouse and a long tradition of training scientists.”
Scientists from the UAE Space Agency visited the French agency’s centres in Paris and Toulouse last month.
“This is what we’re discussing, to develop the spacecraft in the UAE,” he said. “But the details have yet to be defined. Our vision is to establish a strong and robust partnership with the UAE.”
He said more progress was being made on the UAE front, especially with the Dubai-based Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology. “They developed two satellites for Earth observation and now number three is on the way,” Mr Le Gall said. “I’m impressed by this level of expertise and it will continue to increase.”
Michel Miraillet, the French ambassador to the UAE, said: “This new frontier ... brings the UAE in the middle of a very interesting group of nations looking for a brighter future.”
The UAE established its space agency last July and announced plans to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.
cmalek@thenational.ae