São Paulo – The United Arab Emirates has achieved strategic milestones in its space ambitions, state news agency WAM reported on Monday (29). Throughout 2025, the Arab nation expanded its orbital infrastructure and international partnerships, boosting its lunar and Earth observation capabilities.
WAM cites as milestones of the expansion the launch of Thuraya-4, a next-generation mobile communications satellite by operator Thuraya, part of the UAE’s Yahsat group, and MBZ-SAT, an Earth observation satellite developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
Other deployments, such as the nanosatellites Al Ain Sat-1 and HCT-SAT1 and the Foresight satellite constellation, are cited as the country’s achievements in 2025. The launch of Etihad-SAT and the PHI-1 mission—the latter developed under the Payload Hosting Initiative with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs—also took place this year. Additional initiatives were undertaken, including an agreement paving the way for the first Emirati astronaut to reach the Moon.
According to WAM, these projects, along with the ongoing atmospheric research by the Hope Probe on Mars, reinforce the UAE’s trajectory as a key player in global space exploration. Hope is a Mars orbital probe launched to study the planet’s atmosphere.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
