The United Arab Emirates Space Agency and race to Mars

A very short history of space law
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty provides the basic framework for international space law created at the time of the space race between the USA and the USSR. To ensure that neither nation obtained anything other than a public relations advantage by reaching space and the moon first, it was agreed, in the Outer Space Treaty that there would be no sovereignty in space or other celestial bodies, space would be used for peaceful purposes only and space activities would be for the benefit of all mankind. These three concepts are now considered binding tenants of space law, and there are now 103 nations which are parties to the Outer Space Treaty. The international space law framework was then supplemented by the 1972 Liability Convention and the 1976 Registration Convention.

The early beginnings in the UAE
In 1972, only a year after the creation of the UAE as a nation, the UAE became a member of the International Telecommunications Union. Then, in 1976, the UAE became a party to both the Agreement of the Arab Corporation for Space Communications and the INTELSAT Agreement.

Fast forward to the new millennia, the UAE became an active space-faring nation when on October 21, 2000 the UAE’s Thuraya 1 mobile telecommunications satellite was launched. This milestone occurred only a few weeks after the UAE’s accession to the Outer Space Treaty, the Liability Convention and the Registration Convention.

Since that time, Thuraya 2 (2003) and Thuraya 3 (2008) were launched followed by EIAST’s DubaiSat-1 (2009) and DubaiSat-2 (2013) and Al Yah Satellite ‘s Y1A (2011) and Y1B (2012).

A vision to be a leading space nation
In 2014, the UAE took the essential step towards becoming a space sector leader with the establishment of the UAE Space Agency pursuant to Federal Decree No. 1 of 2014. The new law envisages a mixed function for the agency as both the regulator of the space sector and the facilitator of growth, investment, research and education.

One of the first and foremost tasks of the UAE Space Agency is to set its space policy which is to be aligned with the UAE’s commitments under international space law. We are currently in discussions with the UAE Space Agency on a new domestic space law which is expected to be drafted in 2015.

The UAE is well placed to meet its space challenges as it has evolved to be a model jurisdiction to invest, do business in and innovate. This has been demonstrated by the evolution of the UAE from an oil and gas dependant country to a highly diversified economy and leader in the retail, tourism and aerospace sectors. In the past 15 years, the UAE has created a business environment that allows 100 percent foreign ownership within its off-shore freezones, including the innovative financial markets, legal systems and courts within the Dubai International Financial Centre and those planned for the Abu Dhabi Global Market which will be based on English common law.

As the UAE continues to enhance and develop its regulatory framework, to attract foreign investment and the brightest and best human capital in general, there should also be particular collateral benefits to the growth and evolution of the UAE space industry.