UAE officials in talks with SpaceX over launch date for satellite after Falcon 9 rocket is grounded

Earth observation satellite built by Emirati engineers is ready to go into orbit

Engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre continue their work on the UAE exploration programme with MBZ-SAT and Rashid Rover II despite delays and problems for carrier rocket businesses in the US. Photo: The Government of Dubai Media OfficeShow less

UAE space mission officials are in talks with SpaceX about a launch date for an Earth observation satellite built by Emirati engineers, after the company's Falcon 9 rocket was grounded by US authorities because of technical problems.

The MBZ-Sat satellite was scheduled for launch this month, but that is now uncertain as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) completes an investigation into the issues. The SpaceX rocket has suffered several problems this year.

Amer Al Sayegh, senior director of the space engineering department at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, told The National on Tuesday that discussions were being held with SpaceX to finalise a launch date. The satellite will remain in the UAE before it is shipped to a spaceport in Florida for launch.

“They have had these recent incidents with their launcher, so we are in discussion with them to finalise the date,” Mr Al Sayegh said on the sidelines of the Space Research Conference, held by the UAE Space Agency in Abu Dhabi. “They’ve had a few other [incidents] before, in July and in August, some failures in second stage, so the FAA has worked with them on improvement, and so we're still waiting for confirmation from them.”

Amer Al Sayegh, senior director of the space engineering department at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. Sarwat Nasir / The National

The MBZ-Sat, named after President Sheikh Mohamed, is a key part of the UAE's efforts to establish a strong private space sector through collaborations between government-run space centres and private companies. With 90 per cent of the satellite built by UAE companies, the project is aimed at bolstering those efforts and so encouraging further investment and development in the sector.

The space centre worked with five private companies in the country to develop the satellite – aerospace manufacturing company Strata, engineering solutions company EPI, management consultancy Rockford Xellerix, Halcon, a company that manufactures precision-guided systems, and Falcon Group, an inventory management company.

MBZ-Sat is three times more powerful than KhalifaSat, an Emirati-built satellite operating Earth since 2018.

MBZ-Sat has a fully automated image scheduling and processing system that will allow it to produce 10 times more images than the space centre does.

Its downlink data transmission speed will be three times faster than its predecessor.

“All of these companies have been with us since the beginning,” Mr Al Sayegh said. “We're proud that their products are now part of the satellite that will go to space.”

Emirati engineers posing in front of the MBZ-Sat satellite at a clean room in the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. Photo: The Government of Dubai Media Office

Incidents with SpaceX rocket

The Falcon 9 has suffered three technical problems in three months, leading the FAA to ground the rocket. The latest incident was on September 28, when the booster missed its re-entry zone in the South Pacific.

The FAA launched an investigation into the incident and has since only allowed one SpaceX mission to launch, while others are grounded. In the summer, the agency grounded the rocket for two weeks after an incident on July 11 that involved a liquid-oxygen leak in the upper stage. This resulted in the loss of 20 Starlink satellites.

On August 28, the rocket being grounded for two days after a failed landing attempt.

Grounding a rocket causes disruption, with aerospace companies forced to delay missions until the FAA finishes its investigation and clears the rocket for launch. This creates a backlog of payloads waiting to go to space, forcing the company to adjust timetables and perhaps miss launch windows for time-sensitive missions.

Despite these setbacks, SpaceX is regarded as one of the most dependable companies in the space industry.

Rashid rover 2

Mr Al Sayegh also discussed the second Rashid lunar rover project. The four-wheeled rover is being developed after the landing vehicle carrying its predecessor crashed-landed on the surface of the Moon last year.

The space centre selected Hakuto-R Mission 1, a lander built by Japanese company ispace, to carry the first rover to the Moon.

A model of the Rashid rover. The UAE is developing a successor to the lunar vehicle. Antonie Robertson / The National

The space centre has finalised a deal for a lander to carry the new rover and an announcement should be made “soon”, Mr Al Sayegh said.

“We've already started working on the second rover and we're good in terms of schedule,” he said. “In the current decision, we've taken into consideration which company has done it before and has already got experience. Our target is to reach the surface of the Moon and we'll do it, from our perspective, the most successful, safest way.”

There have been several lunar landing attempts by private companies in the past three years, including US companies Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines. Astrobotic's mission with its Peregrine lander ended in failure, with the spacecraft incapable of making a controlled descent to the lunar surface.

The Nova-C lander by Intuitive Machines was hailed as a success despite breaking a landing leg on touchdown, marking the first American lunar landing since the Apollo era. The spacecraft transmitted data for about a week after landing.