UAE to launch first Arab satellite by 2017

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai on 29 December, 2013 launched the executive phase for building the Khalifa-Sat, the first satellite to be fully built and manufactured 100 per cent by the UAE's own experts.

It will be placed in its intended orbit by 2017, the Times of Oman reported.

Khalifa-Sat will be the first Arab-made satellite, catapulting the Arab region into a new era of space industry and competition in space sciences.

While launching the project at the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST), 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."

Established by the Dubai government in 2006, the EIAST is part of a strategic initiative to inspire scientific innovation, technological advancement and to advance sustainable development in Dubai and the UAE.

Sheikh Mohammed has dedicated the ambitious space project to the UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. "Our doors will remain open for cooperation with all Arab countries in space technology and engineering," Sheikh Mohammed added.

He also announced the launch of the project on his official Facebook Page. "Today, we launched a project to build the 1st Emirati and Arab Satellite that is fully manufactured by Arab hands, the hands of Emirati nationals. The satellite, named Khalifa-Sat, will be launched in 2017 by our nationals, and we have a great faith in their capabilities."

On Twitter, Sheikh Mohammed said, "the satellite will be produced "completely by Emiratis' hands," and is expected to be launched in 2017. He added that the country's confidence in the "UAE's children" had no limits.

The EIAST had placed the first satellite Dubai Sat 1 in 2009 in the orbit and recently launched the second one, Dubai Sat 2.

During the first week of this month, the EIAST was able to establish the first communication with DubaiSat-2 successfully and capture the first image of Seer Bani Yas island in Abu Dhabi just 24 hours after launch.