Morocco Plans National Space Agency, Explores UAE Partnerships

At the head of a delegation, Driss El-Hadani met in Abu Dhabi with Yousuf Hamad al-Shaibani, CEO of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), and Mohamed Nasser al-Ahbabi, head of the Space Agency in the United Arab Emirates, reports the Atalayar website. On this occasion, he inquired about the functioning of the two institutions and reflected on the possible ways to create a similar model in Morocco. In other words, it is a question of creating a Moroccan space agency. To succeed in this project, Morocco will be able to count on the support of France and benefit from the Emirati advances in the space sector.

During this visit, the Director General of the Royal Center for Remote Sensing (CRTS) also worked to strengthen the industrial partnership between Morocco and the United Arab Emirates. In this sense, he ratified the Fundamental Charter of the Arab Group for Space Cooperation, an informal regional organization created in November 2019 at the initiative of Sheikh Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. This organization aims to promote and coordinate cooperation in the space sector among its members: United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Sudan and Tunisia. This, through the exchange of technicians, experiences and information.

Morocco has two electro-optical spy satellites in orbit at 620 kilometers above the ground, launched into space in November 2017 and 2018 respectively. The kingdom uses Mohammed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B to monitor and control its borders with Spain, Algeria and the walls erected in the Sahara desert to counter the actions of the Polisario.