The United Arab Emirates has made some progress in the trilateral agreement to modernize the first launch pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome ("Gagarin Start") and hope for its soonest signing. This was announced in an interview with TASS by Mohammed Ahmed Al-Jaber, UAE Ambassador to the Russian Federation.
The diplomat noted that the UAE is very interested in everything related to the development of high technology. "The joint development of the Gagarin Start, the site where Yuri Gagarin took off in 1961, is part of the UAE's efforts in this direction," Al-Jaber said. - "Yes, some progress has been made on the trilateral initiative concerning the modernization and operation of the Gagarin Start site."
He added that at this stage, work is underway to negotiate a draft relevant agreement between the governments of Russia, the UAE and Kazakhstan.
Al-Jaber stressed that the UAE seeks to take an important role in space, as well as to develop its human resources in cooperation with partners, including the Russian Federation. According to him, all this is done to benefit humanity. The Ambassador noted that the Emirates' Mars exploration mission is a shining example in this field.
The UAE is interested in developing cooperation with Russia on space exploration, the parties will soon sign a cooperation agreement, Ahmed al-Jaber added. "We can say that it is a matter of time," the Ambassador said in response to a related question.
He stressed that work on concluding an intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in space exploration has been underway since 2020. In particular, this issue was discussed in March at a meeting between Sara bint Yousef al-Amiri, UAE Minister of Advanced Technologies and chairman of the space agency, and Dmitry Rogozin, Roscosmos director-general. "Sara bint Yousef al-Amiri noted that the UAE is interested in further successful development of cooperation with Russia in the field of space exploration," the Ambassador said.
Roscosmos reported on March 26 following a meeting between Rogozin and al-Amiri that the two sides discussed prospects for mutually beneficial bilateral cooperation in peaceful space exploration. It was noted that Russia has completed the domestic procedures necessary to sign an intergovernmental agreement with the UAE.
In 2017, the UAE announced a project to build a mini-city on Mars, the first human settlement. This project is expected to be completed by 2117. In July 2020, the country sent the Al-Amal interplanetary station to Mars, and on February 9 it entered the orbit of the Red Planet. The purpose of this mission is to study the atmosphere and climatic conditions of Mars, as well as the change of seasons of the Martian year, which lasts almost twice as long as on Earth. In addition, it was reported that the UAE will launch its own lunar exploration program in 2022. The lunar exploration program will be part of the country's space strategy.
Gagarin Start is the oldest launching pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Vostok spaceship with the world's first cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on board departed from it on April 12, 1961. It is planned that as a result of the modernization of the site, Russia will receive a backup launcher, and Kazakhstan and the UAE will be able to launch spacecraft into orbit.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Public Domain
Based on materials from TASS