UAE satellite company Thuraya meets with Nasa counterparts

ABU DHABI // Officials from a local satellite company and the United States’ National Aeronautics and Space Administration met in Sharjah recently to discuss ways to collaborate and explore future opportunities.

Nasa’s delegation were given a tour of Thuraya’s facilities by chief technology officer, Ahmed Al Shamsi, who showed them the company’s operations control centre and the antennas serving its satellites.

Leading the US delegation was Badri Younes, deputy associate of human exploration and operations at Nasa.

Mr Younes said they were looking forward to working closely with Thuraya which had provided many agencies with tremendous service support.

“Today’s visit was a great opportunity to see just how much Thuraya has grown in recent years, and to establish key points of contact,” he said.

The gathering was part of Nasa’s wider UAE tour to strengthen ties with UAE Space sector.

This included earlier meetings with the UAE Space Agency in Abu Dhabi and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai.