UAE University and China set sights on opening space-tech centre in Abu Dhabi

Project aims to help Emiratis develop skills in building spacecraft

A spaceship lifts off in Jiuquan, China. Universities in the UAE and China are joining forces with the aim of building a space centre in Abu Dhabi. AP

The UAE and China are looking to set up a space technology centre in Abu Dhabi to help Emirati students build skills in satellite and space telescope development.

A letter of intent, which is not yet legally binding, was signed on March 7 in Abu Dhabi between the National Space Science and Technology Centre at the UAE University, the Laboratory for Space Research at the Hong Kong University and Origin Space, a private Chinese company.

It is hoped that once plans are approved by authorities, the three parties would then sign an agreement that would signal the start of construction.

Prof Quentin Parker of the LSR told The National that the deal would help the universities build a long-term relationship.

"The LSR role will be in educational training and scientific mentorship, academic exchanges, hosting and exchange with students at UAEU," he said.

"And hosting UAEU interns and, of course, strong scientific input to mission concepts and facilitation of co-operation with some of our key strategic partners."

The letter was signed at the Chinese Industrial Products Exhibition, held at the China-UAE Industrial Capacity Co-operation Demonstration Zone on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

The district is a vast co-operation project between Abu Dhabi and China and will serve the Belt and Road Initiative — a massive trade route, as well as the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030.

China is emerging as a global space power, with a thriving sector that includes human flights to its new space station, planetary, lunar and deep-space exploration, a satellite navigation system and the continued development of its space transport system.

From 2016 to December 2021, China completed 207 missions, including 183 by the Long March carrier rocket series.

China has already landed a spacecraft on the Moon and Mars.

It is also gradually opening up international access to its space programme, inviting foreign astronauts to its Tiangong space station and hosting foreign payloads on future Moon missions.

The UAE was supposed to be launching its next Moon rover on China's Chang'e-7 landing mission to the lunar south pole in 2026, but it is unclear if that is going ahead.

Plans for the International Lunar Research Station — an enormous complex on the Moon set up by China and Russia — are also under way.

The proposal involves sending several Chinese and Russian missions to the Moon over a 15-year period up to 2036.

Officials said international partners would be required to make the project more cost-effective and boost the speed of research.

The National Space Science and Technology Centre at the UAEU was opened in 2021 and offers students, engineers and researchers access to a high-tech space plant.

It gives them the proper environment and resources to design, develop and test satellites of up to 250kg.