The leadership of the United Arab Emirates has embarked on a multi-decade program to become the regional leader in science and technology. Yesterday’s launch by Japan of the U.A.E.’s Hope (Al Amal) spacecraft, now on its way to Mars, is the first major project of the six-year-old U.A.E. Space Agency. Two of the Space Agency’s objectives are to “inspire future Arab generations to pursue space science” and “to establish the U.A.E.’s position as a beacon of progress in the region.”
Speaking in 2017 at the Dubai Air Show, Mars mission manager Omran Saraf said, “Hope sends a very strong message to the 100 million youth in the region. Around 8,000 years ago, this was a region which generated knowledge and symbolized tolerance.”
