Emirates Mars Mission project director Omran Sharaf to Chair COPOUS
United Arab Emirates
The UAE is to chair the Committee on The Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). With 100-member body COPOUS is one of the largest UN committees and plays a major role in governing the exploration and use of space for the benefit of all humanity.
Sarah Bint Yousif Al Amiri, Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology, Chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency said: “It’s a great honour for the Emirates to take the chair of COPOUS, particularly as we founded our space program on international partnerships and collaboration and continue to place these partnerships at the core of our space sector development.”
The COPUOS was created by the UN General Assembly in 1959 to govern the exploration and use of space, and was tasked with reviewing international cooperation in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, studying space-related activities, encouraging space research programmes and studying and recommending policy and the legal infrastructure supporting space exploration.
“This is a huge honour and a tremendous chance to serve the global space sector. As both a young nation and a relatively new entrant to the space sector, we have benefited from the amazing work of the pioneers who have gone before us. Alongside that heritage, we have also found scope to innovate and challenge what have become accepted norms and we look forward to bringing a spirit of open dialogue and co-operation but also seeking to define solutions and new ways of looking at some of the emerging challenges and opportunities facing our sector and, indeed humanity.”
A total of 51 Emirati youth have been trained under the Tamkeen programme. They worked in different departments of the Abu Dhabi Fund under the supervision of 32 officials and experts from various disciplines
Instrumental in the definition and creation of the five treaties and five principles of outer space, the Committee has two subsidiary bodies: the Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, and the Legal Subcommittee, both established in 1961. The Committee is part of The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), and reports to the Fourth Committee of the General Assembly, which adopts an annual resolution on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space.
Sharaf, who will now chair COPOUS for a period of two years (2022-2023), serves as the project director of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, UAE. Sharaf was the first Emirati engineer to travel to Korea in the country’s technology transfer program, which saw him working on the development of the DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2 remote sensing satellites. During his time in Korea, Sharaf gained his Master’s in Science and Technology Policy from the Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), South Korea, in 2013.
In 2014, he was tasked with the development of the Emirates Mars Mission and its Hope Probe, currently orbiting Mars and researching the planets atmospheric dynamics. He has previously represented the UAE at COPUOS, the International Committee on Global Navigation Satellite Systems (ICG) and led the Emirates’ participation in joint studies of emerging space programs at NATO.
Fatima Al Mazrouei, Director of Support Services in ADFD, said: “The Tamkeen programme aims to develop professional skills and capabilities of Emirati university graduates according to the needs of the labour market. We provide an integrated professional environment that allows them to acquire knowledge and experiences in diverse areas under the supervision of officials and experts from ADFD.
She pointed out that ADFD prioratises training of Emirati youth so that they can effectively contribute to the nation-building effort.
A total of 51 Emirati youth have been trained under the Tamkeen programme. They worked in different departments of the Abu Dhabi Fund under the supervision of 32 officials and experts from various disciplines.
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