UAE Nuclear Programme The Cause For UAE Space Exploration Era

Sultan Al Neyadi Will Become The Second Emirati To Take The UAE Flag To Space

As the UAE’s Space Exploration Era report mentioned, UAE Mission 2, the longest Arab space mission in history, will significantly contribute to humanity’s understanding of life on and beyond Earth, three years after the Hope Probe.

In 2019, the first Emirati astronaut, Hazzaa Al Mansoori, spent eight days on the ISS. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai was responsible for making the UAE a world leader in space services and exploration, it added.

While in the UAE’s early space exploration years, the nation has already made incredible progress, becoming the first Arab nation and fifth country ever to reach Mars and the first Arab country to build and launch a Moon rover.

Since 2000, there have always been astronauts on board the space station. The UAE will be the 11th country in the world to have completed a long-term mission at the ISS.

Further adding on nuclear power’s role in supporting space shuttles, the report said that since 1961, nuclear power has enabled understanding of dark, distant planetary bodies that would otherwise be unreachable, opening up the solar system to human exploration and scientific discovery.

Nuclear fuel is incredibly energy-dense, enabling nuclear-powered spacecraft to travel thousands of kilometres over the years without refuelling.

According to the report, to date, NASA has flown more than 25 missions carrying a nuclear power system through a successful partnership with the United States (US) Department of Energy, which provides the power systems and fuel, with ground-breaking missions extending humanity’s reach across the solar system.

Radioisotope power systems are reliable and efficient. NASA uses nuclear power systems to send unmanned spacecraft to faraway planets because they are more reliable and efficient than solar power.However, a National Academies report concluded that larger systems are needed for human flights to Mars and beyond or for setting up colonies on the Moon or Mars, even actual nuclear reactors.

Commenting on future plans, the report said that in this new age of space travel, nuclear power and related technologies are making interplanetary missions faster, more efficient, and more economical, with advances in nuclear fission and fusion indispensable for deep-space travel.

In the near future, nuclear energy could provide electricity for a wider range of uses, such as onboard systems and instruments, allowing humans to stay on celestial bodies in the solar system for a long time.

The US space agency is exploring nuclear thermal propulsion to drive efficiencies. This concept introduces heat from a nuclear fission reactor to a hydrogen propellant and plans to test a spacecraft engine powered by nuclear fission by 2027. A trip to Mars from Earth using the technology could take roughly four months, instead of some nine months with a conventional, chemically powered engine, and substantially reduce the time astronauts would be exposed to natural deep-space radiation.

According to the report, nuclear power is beyond electricity. Commenting on the same report mentioned, the UAE has a long-term, data-driven approach to developing nuclear energy with the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant, the cornerstone of the UAE Peaceful Nuclear Energy Programme, generating abundant clean electricity around the clock.

Spearheading an increase in the intellectual wealth of the UAE with thousands of high-value career opportunities for UAE nationals, the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant is transforming the human capital of the nuclear sector and stimulating millions of dollars of value for local companies.

The Barakah Plant is just the beginning of the UAE's peaceful nuclear energy programme, with nuclear energy as the catalyst for innovation and R&D. With abundant clean electricity flowing 24/7, ENEC focuses on exploring and incubating strategic investments in nuclear energy locally and internationally that support the growth and development goals of the UAE, according to the report.

According to the report, the Barakah Nuclear Energy Plant is a nation-defining strategic energy infrastructure project that is driving efforts towards the UAE's Net Zero by 2050 target by preventing millions of tonnes of carbon emissions each year.

Today, the Barakah Plant is the region's largest source of clean electricity. ENEC intends to realise the full value of the UAE Programme through civil applications ranging from clean energy generation and clean molecule production to applications in healthcare, agriculture, and space exploration.