His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Supreme Space Council, chaired the Council’s first meeting, reviewing the UAE’s space sector achievements.
The meeting highlighted the sector’s remarkable growth, with AED 40 billion invested in space exploration projects and a 29% annual growth in space companies. Private sector investment now makes up 44.3% of the sector’s funding.
During the first meeting of the Supreme Space Council today, we discussed the future of national investments and upcoming projects in the ever-evolving space sector and reaffirmed our commitment to supporting ambitious space exploration programmes. In the past years, our… pic.twitter.com/oAcHqChD4B
— Hamdan bin Mohammed (@HamdanMohammed) December 16, 2024
The UAE leads several national projects exploring the moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt and aims to foster public-private sector collaboration to further advance the industry.
The meeting, attended by key officials, discussed upcoming projects, including the Thuraya 4 satellite (December 2024) and MBZ-SAT (January 2025). It also emphasised the critical role of the private sector and the country’s global space contributions, such as the Artemis programme and the asteroid belt mission.
The Supreme Space Council aims to build a knowledge-based economy and enhance the UAE’s space capabilities.

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