James Reinl, Nissar Hoath and Sue Brattle trace the trajectories of the UAE and other Asian nations since the launch of Sputnik I
Fifty years after the launch of Sputnik left the United States scrambling to play catch-up in the first Space Race, the UAE and pioneering nations across Asia are launching their own cosmic bids in the world's latest exploration phase.
This year, Abu Dhabi and Dubai each revealed details about their satellite projects while Ras Al Khaimah has been developing plans to build a spaceport and space-training centre.
Emirati telecom tycoon Ebrahim Sharaf is getting ready for a gruelling bout of zero-gravity training in readiness for his bid to become the first UAE national in space as part of Virgin Galactic's commercial space flight initiative.
"These are exciting times for satellites and space travel in the UAE," says Mohammed El Kadi, managing director of Dubai-based satellite imagery specialists Space Imaging Middle East.
"The Dubai research satellite is a very important step and so is the work being undertaken by the UAE armed forces, who are devising an imaging satellite that will put the UAE at the forefront of the work being undertaken in the GCC.
"And just look across the rest of Asia, with India and China both planning their missions to the moon." According to pundits, the space programmes of the UAE, China, Japan and India have reminded US scientists of the Soviet Union's bold launch of the satellite Sputnik 50 years ago. Members of America's scientific community fear history may be repeating itself as Asia emerges as the rising force in space exploration.
While Asia's achievements are modest in comparison to the milestones set by the US and former Soviet Union, experts at a recent conference in Pasadena believe it is only a matter of time before Asia leads the field.
China, which sent a man into space for the first time in 2003, plans to launch its own moon probe before the end of the year, followed by India in the first half of 2008. Japan kick-started the Asian lunar race on September 14, when it successfully launched its first lunar orbiter.
While China and India have raised the possibility of a manned lunar mission within the next decade, the US has vowed to return to the Moon in 2020, 48 years after the last US visit. Nasa, meanwhile, has set the ambitious target of putting a man on Mars in 2037.
UAE-based space expert El Kadi says within the next 50 years, the Emirates will be a regional leader in satellite technology, while other nations across Asia will have also witnessed rapid progression.
"The UAE is on the right path to becoming the regional leader of technological and military satellites," he says. "They will be the first of the region's armed forces to have the capability to produce their own hiresolution satellite imagery.
"Technology is a selfcatalysing process. If you look at the progress that has been made since Sputnik was launched 50 years ago, our progress in the future is going to make those 50 years look like 200 years."
Satellite story
Sputnik 1 was launched on October 4, 1957. It was 59cm in diameter and weighed 83.6kg - like hurling a big man into space. Each orbit around the Earth took 96 minutes.
Russia beat the US into space by accident. Boris Chertok, now 95 and one of the founders of the Soviet space programme, has only recently been allowed to speak about Sputnik 1 (there were 40 later models).
His name and that of Sergei Korolev, the chief scientist were a state secret for many years. But Chertok has now described how he was involved in the frantic development of a rocket capable of striking the US with a hydrogen bomb. Because there was no telling how heavy the warhead would be, its ballistic missile was built with thrust to spare. When the warhead project hit a snag, Korolev seized his opportunity and sent the satellite up anyway.
Chertok told reporters in Moscow: "Each rocket was like a beloved woman to us." However, Sputnik only achieved fame through the foreign Press, according to Sergei Kruschev, son of Nikita Kruschev who was Soviet president at the time.
"It was the American Press, not the Soviet Press, which [allowed Sputnik] to become one of the most powerful weapons of propaganda the Soviet Union had," Sergei now an American citizen has written in the forward to a new book on the space race, Epic Rivalry.
One odd fact: Sputnik 1 inspired writer Herb Caen to coin the term "beatnik" in an article about the Beat Generation in the San Francisco Chronicle on April 2, 1958.
Abu Dhabi cosmic bid
To be in the global satellite technology race, Abu Dhabi in August signed an agreement with a European consortium to build a satellite communications system for launch in the second half of 2010.
To achieve this, government investment body Mubadala Development Company formed the Al Yah Satellite Communications Company, which signed the agreement with the consortium comprising of EADS Astrium and Thales Alenia Space.
The consortium will manufacture and launch the Dh6 billion dual satellite system for Abu Dhabi. The contract with the European firms includes postlaunch support and services.
Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, COO of Mubadala and Chairman of Yahsat, says: "This is the first time that a government in the region has openly backed such a substantial venture in the satellite communications industry. It sends out a powerful message about Abu Dhabi's emerging role as global technology hotspot, and we hope to encourage many young Emiratis to develop careers in this field." The operational life of the system is estimated to be 15 years. The Yahsat system will comprise a space segment including two operational satellites YahSat 1A and YahSat 1B. 1A is to be stationed at the orbital position of 52.5°E.
The dual system will provide commercial services to both government and private clients from Europe and Africa to South East Asia as well as data for UAE defence and national security agencies.
The satellites will begin orbiting the earth within months of each other, allowing Yahsat to provide customers with broadcasting, internet and telecommunications services.
Dubai eye the skies
Eight Emirati engineers are currently developing and assembling DubaiSat-1, the UAE's first remotesensing satellite. Its cameras and instruments will scan the Earth to gather vital information for use in urban and rural planning, mapping, transport and utility development among a host of other purposes.
The trailblazing project is the brainchild of the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology, a Dubai Government initiative to foster innovation in the UAE and across the region.
Technological support is being provided by South Korean company Satrec Initiative and the satellite will be launched from Russia.
"As the UAE continues to develop, there is a definite need for an accurate multipurpose information system," the institution's Director-General Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori announced last month.
"DubaiSat-1 will support infrastructure development by providing information that is central for the decision-making process affecting urban and rural planning as well as transport, utilities and mapping, in addition to environmental applications such as monitoring pollution and detecting oil spills.
"DubaiSat-1 will also help officials to manage natural disasters and promote research and development, space science and other scientific disciplines.
"We will launch the satellite with Moscow's International Space Company Kosmotras, since Dubai does not have a launch facility."
Sharaf's Virgin trip
Emirati telecom tycoon Ebrahim Sharaf is getting ready to head to the US and undertake his gruelling zerogravity training prior to becoming one of the first 100 astronauts to use the Virgin Galactic service.
The Dubai-based businessman who runs electronics stores and travel agencies will be the first UAE national in space, taking advantage of the new commercial space flight initiative by Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.
"We expect Sharaf to have started his training by the end of the year," Virgin Galactic spokeswoman Sharon Garrett tells Emirates Today.
"I'm sure he's very excited about it." Sharaf, a lifelong traveller and adventurer, has visited the North Pole on two separate occasions and spent 24 days journeying across Siberia.
But the intrepid explorer says nothing is likely to compare to travelling aboard SpaceShipTwo - Virgin Galactic's six-seater reusable spacecraft developed by American engineer Burt Rutan.
If Virgin billionaire chief Sir Richard's vision is realised by 2010, Sharaf and other space tourists will be handing over around Dh734,000 to be rocketed into space and experience weightlessness before returning to earth.
"I think they will get two or three missions a day, five days a week, around 700-800 flights a year," says Ben Woods, a member of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, adding that officials hope to regenerate the region through commercial space travel, denying it will merely become a folly of the super rich.
"If you look at this strictly as saying 'Well, we're going to have some rich people come up to take a joyride' you can misinterpret what we are actually doing, what the real endgame is here," Woods said.
"The intention from the very beginning was to undertake this as part of an economic development impact for the entire community in New Mexico," he adds.
© Emirates Today 2007
