UAE Navigation Satellite

The United Arab Emirates will launch a navigation satellite next year aimed at demonstrating the country’s technological capabilities. "The first satellite will be launched in 2021 and the second – a technologically enhanced one – the following year," Dr. Khaled Al Hashmi, Director of the National Space Science and Technology Centre, NSSTC, in UAE University in Al Ain, said August 10, 2020.

Navigation satellites offer positioning signals for navigation functions in car navigation systems and smartphones, which are widely used across the globe. These convenient systems use signals from satellites for satellite positioning services that help detect someone’s current location. These services are also used for many other purposes such as surveying, and disaster prevention etc.

At the moment, there are four Global Navigation Satellite Systems such as Global Positioning System, GPS, of the United States, GLONASS of Russia, Galileo of the European Union and BeiDou of China, and two regional systems – the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System, QZSS, of Japan and the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, IRNSS, which was later given the operational name Navigation with Indian Constellation, NavIC.

The UAE’s navigation satellite will be the first project of Satellite Assembly, Integration and Testing, AIT, Centre, a collaboration formed by Tawazun Economic Council with Airbus and the NSSTC, Al Hashmi said. "The satellite project funded by the UAE Space Agency aims for technology demonstration and capability build-up, and not meant for adding a navigation system immediately. We try to select a certain technology, design and develop the satellite and payload here and will own the intellectually property rights. "And if we are successful, the project can be expanded further," explained the director of the NSSTC, which was jointly established by UAE University in Al Ain, the UAE Space Agency and the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ICT-Fund).

The new satellite is not aimed at replacing any existing Global Navigation Satellite Systems, GNSS, the director clarified. "For us, it is a project to develop local capabilities in designing and building the satellite and payload. It is an initial work and several other countries are also trying to develop similar technologies," Al Hashmi noted. About the relevance of more countries developing the navigation satellite systems, he said if one existing system does not work, the world can depend on another one. It can be used for some other purposes such as deploying drones.