Emirhan Yilmaz and Emir Yildirim
08 October 2026•Update: 08 October 2026
A new era of industrial space exploration, including lunar mining and a permanent human presence on the Moon, will become a reality in the coming years, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency’s deputy director general told Anadolu.
Ibrahim Hamza Al Qasim, speaking on the sidelines of the 77th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in the southwestern Turkish province of Antalya, said upcoming missions will focus on extracting space resources, including rare metals and raw materials “that are limited on Earth but abundant in space.”
“The UAE started in space about 30 years ago, 1997 is when we first entered the space race, and we built incredible capabilities over the last three decades, then we started our deep space exploration programs for the Moon, Mars, and the asteroid belt that we’re launching in the first quarter of 2028,” he said. “We have quite an ambitious astronaut corps of four, two of which have flown to the ISS (International Space Station) or to other places.”
Al Qasim said the agency is placing much greater emphasis on private sector involvement rather than relying on government funding.
“We noticed that the tipping point is happening already within the UAE’s ecosystem -- we see that most of the funding, well over 50%, coming towards space comes from the private sector,” he added.
He noted that advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and next-generation robotics are lowering barriers to entry, allowing emerging space programs to achieve results beyond their traditional capabilities.
“I think over the next decade you’ll see incredible missions, humans going back to the service of the moon, a permanent presence for people on the Moon, but more importantly, I think you will probably see programs that not only explore space, but look at exploiting space resources and bringing back rare metals and and resources that are very limited on Earth,” he said.
“It’s a very exciting time to be working in space -- I think we are fast approaching a time when we could have all the resources we need on Earth to really drive a new era of industries,” he added.
The IAC 2026 kicked off Monday and will run until Friday. It is co-hosted by the Turkish Space Agency (TUA) and the SAHA Istanbul defense cluster and organized by the Industry and Technology Ministry. Anadolu serves as its global communications partner.
