Muscat – Oman on Monday entered into an agreement with the National Aerospace Services Company (NASCOM) to use its space launch complex Etlaq for multiple rocket launches, utilising the latitude efficient location in the wilayat of Duqm.

The Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology (MTCIT), the Ministry of Housing and Urban Planning and NASCOM, signed the contract on Monday to use Etlaq for building a space rocket launch platform for amateurs and researchers in Oman.

Etlaq space launch complex is a project which NASCOM began last year as the company felt the need for having a facility for testing their prototype hybrid-solid rockets in a safe area that could be used for future launches.

The company’s main focus is to boost the country’s capacity in scientific research and promote global partnerships in the space sector. Etlaq will be offering space for assembling and labs for testing along with control rooms, and launch pads. ‘The project will attract global companies to utilise the sultanate’s ideal location and global standard facilities for space launch operations,’ the company stated on its website.

Symposium on Omani space sector
With an aim to develop and enable the space sector to contribute to social, scientific and economic development, MTCIT on Monday organised a symposium on the Omani space sector, titled ‘Future Trends and Investment Opportunities’.

The symposium aimed to achieve the objectives of the Digital Economy Programme and Oman Vision 2040, and to raise awareness of the importance of the space sector and its technologies, in addition to identifying current and future opportunities for cooperation and partnerships in this sector.

During the symposium, two agreements were signed. While the first one was for Etlaq’s use for launches, the other one was for establishing a special corner for space science and technology in the Children’s Museum in Muscat. This agreement was signed between MTCIT, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth, and Oman LNG.

The agreement aims to enhance effective community partnership, spread the culture of space science and technology among the new generation, besides creating a fertile environment for scientific tourism programmes and initiatives in the field of space science, in addition to promoting the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies in the space sector.

“The estimated economic contribution of space services and applications in the sultanate in 2021 did not exceed 0.03 per cent, and the number of workers in the sector remains around 150 at various professional and supervisory levels,” said H E Dr Ali bin Amer al Shaidani, Undersecretary for Communications and Information Technology in MTCIT.

Shaidani affirmed that the ministry, through the various proposed initiatives and in cooperation with partners, will make the sultanate a regional gateway to space applications.