UAE to launch indigenous satellite in 2017

ISLAMABAD: United Arab Emirates (UAE) vice president and prime minister launched the executive phases for building the first satellite whose parts are solely produced in the Gulf Arab state and which is planned to be placed on orbit by 2017.

The first UAE made satellite will be called Khali Sat named after the UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan the project would catapult the Arab region into a new era of space industry and competition in space sciences local news agency WAM reported.

While launching the promising project at the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST) UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed said, “Khalifa Sat is a message to all Arabs that Arab ushering into the space era is neither out of reach nor impossible and our state will be a leader in this industry as long as we have the confidence and courage to enter into competition with major countries in this field.”

The prime minister invited the Arab nations to co operate with EIAST. “Our doors will remain open for cooperation with all Arab countries in space technology and engineering,” said Sheikh Mohammed who is also the ruler of Dubai.

The report did not reveal for which purposes the first indigenous satellite would be produced.