Anti-Russian sanctions will have to be overcome in the space industry as well
Roscosmos announced Russia's withdrawal from the ISS program in 2024-2028 and the start of work on the creation of the Russian Orbital Station (ROS), which they want to put into polar orbit by 2030. In connection with the conduct of a special military operation (SVO) and the introduction by "unfriendly" countries of an unprecedented sanctions regime against the Russian Federation, it is highly likely that the budget of the Russian manned space program will be sequestered, and the planned deadline for the creation of the ROS becomes problematic.
One of the possible ways to reduce the negative impact of under–financing is to find an ally from among the countries that did not support anti-Russian sanctions. Such "friendly" countries include China, India, North Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), etc. The most interesting partner, in my opinion, is the UAE, which has a national space agency, shows keen interest and has positive experience of cooperation with the Russian Federation in manned cosmonautics.
DUBAI'S SPACE SUCCESSES
The UAE is a young country. Some half a century ago, on December 2, 1971, six of the seven emirates of Treaty Oman announced the creation of a federation called the United Arab Emirates. The coat of arms of the new state was decorated with a yellow falcon – a symbol of autocracy.
The UAE began to engage in science in general and space in particular much later. Back in 2017, applicants for the degree of Doctor of Sciences accounted for less than 0.8% of the population with higher education in the country. Which is half as much as in the Arab countries as a whole.
With space, things in the country were practically nothing. There was no technology, there were no engineers, there was no knowledge.
The UAE's own space program was launched on February 6, 2006, when Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the country and ruler of Dubai, established the Emirati Institute of Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST). Nine years later, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center was established on its basis.
In just a few years, the young Space Center managed to do a lot.
On July 9, 2009, the first remote sensing satellite DubaiSat-1 was launched. The spacecraft was launched into orbit by the Russian Dnepr launch vehicle from the Baikonur cosmodrome. The satellite was made by order of EIAST by the South Korean corporation Satrec Initiative.
The DubaiSat-1 satellite is a hexagonal prism weighing 190 kg. The equipment allows it to operate in two optical modes: black and white with a resolution of 2.5 m and color with a resolution of 5 m. The service life of the satellite was estimated at five years.
After a successful launch, specialists from the UAE, together with colleagues from South Korea, began to create the next DubaiSat-2 satellite. Some of the work was done entirely by Arab engineers. The device was launched on November 21, 2013 with a Dnepr rocket from the Yasny cosmodrome in the Orenburg region. The satellite 's optical equipment made it possible to obtain an image of the Earth with a resolution of 1 m .
In August 2020, the first ever Arab Mars mission was launched. The probe "Al-Amal" ("Hope") in February 2021 successfully entered the orbit of the Red Planet.
And all this in less than two decades.
Many more developed space powers helped the United Arab Emirates to achieve such a pace. And evil tongues generally claim that big oil money has decided everything. But it is simply impossible to eliminate the backlog in such a complex area with finances alone. A lot of work can be seen behind Dubai's space successes.
The head of the UAE space program was thirty-year–old Sarah bint Youssef al-Amiri, Minister of Advanced Technologies in the Ministry of Industry and Advanced Technologies of the UAE, head of the UAE Space Agency and the UAE Council of Scientists, Deputy head of the Emirates Mars Mission program. The average age of the specialists employed in the project is less than 30 years.
By the way, contrary to popular opinion, the United Arab Emirates is increasingly willing to give women the opportunity to work in science and space. For example, the team of specialists who worked on the launch of the UAE's first Mars probe Al-Amal consists of 80% women. The main scientific team consists of 11 employees of the UAE Space Agency: eight women and three men.
In 2017, the long-term strategic program "Mars 2017" was launched, the final of which should be the first Arab Martian settlement. Skeptics hastened to declare that this is just another, albeit very beautiful, way of creating a project using the method of Khoja Nasreddin: "Either the donkey will die, or the padishah will die").
But judging by the work already done, the United Arab Emirates sees serious investment potential in space research and is ready to develop them to the maximum. One of the indicators of such interest is the 72nd International Astronautical Congress was held for the first time in more than 70 years of history in an Arab country, namely in the UAE.
In 1964, Sheikh Rashid bin Said Al Maktoum ordered the publication of a commemorative postage stamp in honor of the first flight of American astronauts into space. And 55 years later, an anniversary set of six stamps was released in honor of the flight of the first UAE astronaut into space.
To date, the UAE has become one step closer to achieving its goal of becoming a leader in the space industry. This was stated by the CEO of Emirates Post Group holding Abdullah Mohammed al-Ashram.
PARTNERSHIP WITH RUSSIA
In a short time, Russia and the UAE have developed serious partnerships in the space sector. Already in 2017, agreements were concluded on the launch of the first cosmonaut in the country's history. "I invite all Emirati boys and girls to take part in the astronaut selection and training program at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center. The best and most worthy of you will go into space. I emphasize that every young man or girl will be able to play an important role in the future of the UAE" – in December 2017, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum posted the above message on his Twitter, where he announced the launch of a program to train UAE astronauts for various scientific and space missions.
4022 people applied for the place. The winners were nine candidates sent for final examination to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Two finalists were selected there, one of whom was military pilot Hazzaa al-Mansouri.
During the year of training, he completed more than 90 courses and more than 1400 hours of training. On September 25, 2019, Hazzaa al-Mansouri launched together with crew commander Oleg Skripochka and flight engineer Jessica Meir aboard Soyuz MS-15. He spent eight days in space and became the first cosmonaut in the history of the United Arab Emirates.
The slogan "Zaid's ambitions" can be seen everywhere – both in the UAE Space Agency and on holiday posters and commemorative stamps. The first astronaut of the UAE, Hazzaa al-Mansouri, does not have much free time, but during a video call with students, he said that he found time to read his favorite book, "Kissati" by Sheikh Mohammed ibn Rashid. And once again expressed his gratitude to the country's leadership, which allowed him to realize his childhood dream. As a child, he dreamed of flying into space from his hometown in the desert.
TO THE MOON AND TO MARS
In 2024, the UAE plans to launch its own lunar rover "Rashid". As in other similar programs, the exploration of the Moon is declared as an intermediate stage for sending missions to Mars. "Rashid" will land in the equatorial region of our satellite – where the wheel of the lunar rover has not yet set foot. The device will work for 14 days, collect information about the solar wind, and also test materials for future lunar and Martian spacesuits.
In 2028, another very interesting mission is planned: the launch of a probe to Venus. The probe, having circled our neighbor, will go to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter and land on one of them in 2033.
In fact, the UAE's space program is another step towards economic diversification. The task of the current petrodollar investment is to attract young people to science and engineering in order to create a high–tech industry. And when the oil runs out, the Emirates will have something to offer this world.
Of course, the UAE space structures primarily look at the possibility of gaining experience, and the source is not so important to them. Just a year after al-Mansouri's flight, it became known that the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center had chosen NASA to continue training its own astronauts and possible work on the ISS.
On September 21, 2020, Hazzaa al-Mansouri and the second Emirati cosmonaut al-Neyadi began training for flights at NASA's Lyndon Johnson Space Center in Houston (USA). Then it became known that two more future UAE cosmonauts, also strictly selected from more than 4,000 applicants, will undergo the same training program. Their names are Mohammed al–Mullah and Nura al-Matrush. Yes, the UAE wants a woman to be among the country's first cosmonauts.
AREAS OF COOPERATION
This news was perceived by many as a refusal to cooperate with Roscosmos and a turn towards NASA. But this is not the case at all. As already mentioned, the most important thing for the UAE is to obtain the maximum amount of knowledge and competencies in order to create its own independent program based on them.
That is why cosmonauts who have already studied in Russia were chosen to study at NASA. If the goal is to evaluate both programs, determine their best sides and weaknesses, and on the basis of such an analysis to train their own astronauts, this is the most logical step.
Therefore, nothing has been completed yet in the UAE's work with Russia on the manned space program. And, judging by the information from the fields of the International Astronautical Congress, we may soon hear about new contracts and new flights.
The UAE cooperates with those who offer the most interesting conditions, regardless of nationality. Therefore, in order to interest the UAE in priority cooperation with the Russian Federation, it would be possible to propose the construction of space industry enterprises by Roscosmos in the UAE (similar to the construction of nuclear power plants abroad by Rosatom). These can be enterprises for the design and manufacture of rocket engines, launch vehicles such as Soyuz, Angara, and a joint orbital station. Projects of joint improvement and operation of the "Sea Launch", automatic surveillance spacecraft, communications, etc., with the transfer (sale) of intellectual property licenses for rocket and space purposes are possible.
Vladimir Melnikov
Vladimir Nikolaevich Melnikov is a former leading electronics engineer of PJSC RSC Energia.
