Ibrahim Hamza Al Qassim, Deputy Director-General of the UAE Space Agency, said the next phase will combine the return of humans to the Moon with establishing a permanent presence there, alongside missions aimed at utilizing its resources. He confirmed that more than half of the funding currently flowing into the UAE space sector comes from the private sector.
According to Ibrahim Hamza Al Qassim, Deputy Director-General of the UAE Space Agency, the UAE’s space programs are moving toward a phase focused on long-term human presence on the Moon and developing missions to utilize space resources, while strengthening the role of private companies in financing and carrying out space activities.
Al Qassim explained, in remarks to Anadolu Agency on the sidelines of the 77th International Astronautical Congress held in the Turkish city of Antalya, that the coming years will see humans return to the lunar surface and attempts to establish a permanent presence there, in addition to programs that go beyond exploration to investigate the collection of rare minerals and resources that are available in limited quantities on Earth and in greater abundance in space.
UAE Plans Extend to Asteroids
Al Qassim said the UAE’s mission to the asteroid belt will begin in the first quarter of 2028. The source provided no additional technical details about the spacecraft or the mission’s specific targets, but placed it within a broader effort to expand the scope of the UAE’s space exploration.
He also noted that the UAE’s program includes four astronauts, two of whom have traveled to the International Space Station, while the other two are awaiting future opportunities for spaceflight.
Private Sector Advances in Space Financing
The UAE’s upcoming strategy places greater emphasis on the private sector, as Al Qassim said that more than 50% of the money currently flowing into space comes from private companies. This reflects the shift of space activity from a field led solely by governments to an ecosystem in which investors and companies are participating increasingly.
Al Qassim believes that governments allocate resources to space because of the impact of technological development on the economy, while the expansion of the private sector gives space programs additional funding sources and execution capabilities. The source does not identify the participating companies, the size of the investments, or the business models associated with resource utilization.
What Is Changing in Practice?
The UAE official links this shift to rapid progress in artificial intelligence and advanced robotics, which may help countries with smaller programs carry out missions beyond their traditional capabilities. In practice, this means that missions to the Moon and asteroids will not rely solely on crewed flights, but also on robotic and autonomous systems capable of exploring and operating in distant environments.
However, Al Qassim’s statements outline a future direction more than they announce existing commercial operations. The details of economic viability, regulatory frameworks for resource utilization, and the ability of missions to return materials to Earth remain unspecified in the source material. Therefore, the importance of the news lies in identifying the UAE’s and the space sector’s stated priorities, not in proving that actual space mining has begun.