Space Perspective, the US space tourism company developing stratospheric balloons, said discussions with Gulf countries seeking to be a launch site for its commercial flights in the Middle East are progressing quickly, with a decision expected next year.
The Florida-based company is spending time in the Gulf to evaluate opportunities and expects to select a location in the first quarter of 2025, Michael Savage, its chief executive, told The National on Wednesday on the sidelines of the Skift Global Forum East in Dubai.
"We have interest from the UAE and entities from Abu Dhabi have come to visit mission control more than once. And we have interest from Qatar and from Saudi Arabia," he said.
"Our customer base likes to vacation in and visit this region, this has become a global hub for high-net worth vacationing ... and because this is a luxury experience, it's ideal for us to be as close as possible to that demographic."
Space Perspective's discussions with these Gulf countries are "accelerating really fast" and competition is heating up in the race to be first to host these space tourism flights in the region, Mr Savage said.
"Each country offers its own advantages and each has its own challenges, we have to vet that and see where the alignment is," he said. "We're spending a lot of time here through the end of the year to vet those opportunities and find the right partner."
Space Perspective will offer hydrogen-powered, high-altitude balloon rides that float passengers about 31km above Earth. The price for a single seat is $125,000 (Dh459,125). The journey promises panoramic views of the planet's curvature, while staying within the safety of a pressurised capsule designed for comfort and luxury, with meals and Wi-Fi.
The company will conduct crewed flight tests in 2025 and expects its first commercial flight to take off in 2026, most likely around Florida's Gulf coast, Mr Savage said.
The UAE has ambitions for economic development through space activities, including tourism. The country's space strategy involves creating an economic impact by creating partnerships with private companies, as well as research and development in space.
The Gulf region's location would be ideal for the company to launch its commercial flights because the capsule will be launched from a ship and splash down in the ocean, Taber MacCallum, co-founder of Space Perspective, told The National.
"Since there is so much water around this region, it's pretty straightforward to figure out how to do operations in this region," he said. "There's times we can fly over the Emirates, for example, east or west, and launch on side and splash down on the other. The region really lends itself to a marine-based operation."
This comes as the UAE pushes forward with its agenda to develop a knowledge-based economy, including space research and exploration, which involves partnerships with private companies.
Space Perspective said the UAE's interest in space and empowering the female workforce in the STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) field aligns with its own goals.
"It's always better to be in a region that is growing and investing than to be in a region that is flat ... it's really exciting what's happening here and see the level of investment and growth in these high-tech knowledge economies," Mr MacCallum said. "It's a very attractive thing. And the Gulf is situated between Asia and Europe, so there's a lot of advantages to this region but very fundamentally, it's the up and coming place on the planet."
Meanwhile, luxury space travel operator SpaceVIP is in "active conversations" to open an office in Dubai in the next 12 to 18 months, Roman Chiporukha, co-founder and chief executive of SpaceVIP, told The National.
He describes SpaceVIP as a "space tourism broker" and a "travel agent for space".
The idea of setting up an office in Dubai would be "to have a presence here to let people know that these opportunities exist", educate young people about space and raise awareness about how the technological innovations developed for space applications can be used to solve problems on Earth such as water scarcity, he said.
