Morocco looks to the Emirates as a model for its own space agency
With two observation satellites in service dedicated to providing images of interest for the defence and security of the Maghreb country and to support its economic and social development, Morocco is seeking to improve its space capabilities and has taken the United Arab Emirates as a model.
An official Moroccan delegation has just concluded a visit to the United Arab Emirates to deepen relations in space matters between the two countries and increase the areas of bilateral cooperation, which are currently "solid", as Professor Ibrahim al-Qasim, scientific advisor to the Emirates Space Agency, describes them.
The Alawi delegation to the Gulf country was led by Professor Driss El-Hadani, Director General of the Royal Centre for Remote Sensing in Space (CRTS), the official institution based in Rabat that acts as Morocco's space agency and represents the country in all international forums.
A public body created in December 1989 to promote the exploitation and development of applications derived from Earth imagery in Morocco, CRTS's tasks include coordinating the national remote sensing programme in collaboration with other ministerial departments, government agencies, private operators and Moroccan universities.
With more than 30 years of experience in remote sensing techniques and space technologies, Professor Driss El-Hadani has been in Abu Dhabi to meet with the Directors General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, Yousuf Hamad al-Shaibani, and the Emirates Space Agency, Mohamed Nasser al-Ahbabi, to learn first-hand about the organisation of both institutions and to see the possible ways to create a similar model to create the Moroccan Space Agency.
Driss El-Hadani also sought to build new bridges to expand the industrial, scientific and technical collaboration that Morocco receives from the Emirates, and received information on the status of the DubaiSat-1 and 2 observation satellites, KhalifaSat, the Al-Amal Martian programme, the new lunar challenge that the Gulf country is undertaking and the recruitment and training process for Emirati astronauts.
The head of the North African country's space policy took advantage of his stay in Abu Dhabi to ratify the Basic Charter of the Arab Group for Space Cooperation, an informal regional organisation created in November 2019 under the impetus of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the Emirates and ruler of Dubai.
Composed of 14 member states under the chairmanship of the Emirates Space Agency, the purpose of the Arab Group for Space Cooperation is to promote and coordinate cooperation in the space sector between Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritania, Morocco, Mauritania, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia through the exchange of technicians, experiences and information.
It also aims to promote scientific research and innovation, harmonise satellite communications legislation and regulations among its authorities, launch joint initiatives and adopt a unified position in regional and international forums.
King Mohammed VI has two electro-optical spy satellites in orbit at an altitude of 620 kilometres, dedicated primarily to surveillance and control of his borders with Spain, Algeria and the walls he has erected in the Sahara desert to isolate the Polisario Front. Named Mohammed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B, they were manufactured by French industry and launched into space in November 2017 and 2018, respectively.
The head of the National Defence Administration portfolio, Minister Abdelatif Loudy, as well as Prime Minister Saad Eddine El Othmani, are aware that the country is far from having the capacity to produce platforms like the Mohammed VI, weighing 1.1 tonnes and with optical sensors that it does not have. But with the contribution of its growing aeronautical sector, the Alawi government wants to follow the path of manufacturing nano-satellites weighing a few kilos in the country to complement the large ones that it has no choice but to purchase from abroad.
Aware of the geostrategic evolution the world is going through, the government in Rabat aspires to reorganise its government space sector and make a qualitative leap in the current structure of its institutions linked to outer space. On an as yet undefined horizon, it wants to create a Moroccan Space Agency, for which it is counting on the advice of France, a nation with which it has privileged political, economic and industrial relations. And with the Emirates model, which has proven to be viable.