How UAE space platform can bring satellites within reach of students and start-ups

A digital platform created by the UAE Space Agency will allow researchers, students and start-ups access to satellite images for their projects.

The agency has partnered with Abu Dhabi’s Space42, a space technology company that has developed the Geo-Spatial Analytics Platform – GIQ – to connect users to data from more than 300 satellites operated by partners such as Nasa, the European Space Agency and Maxar. Users would also have access to some of the UAE’s high-resolution satellites built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.

Salem Butti Al Qubaisi, director general of the UAE Space Agency, said the platform was meant to make satellite data more accessible and easier to use.

“The next generation of GIQ marks a pivotal step towards addressing challenges in space data,” he said. “These include the multiplicity of service providers and the difficulty of dealing with each of them and responses due to the long time required for application procedures.”

He added that users often struggle to choose the best-suited satellite and that complicated procedures can make the process costly and time-consuming.

In its first phase, the GIQ platform will be free for participants of the agency’s Space Analytics and Solutions (SAS) programme, which also includes researchers, students, entrepreneurs and start-ups developing space-based applications.

The UAE Space Agency created SAS to make it easier for users to turn satellite data into applications that support the country’s growing space sector, monitoring environmental changes, improving urban planning and managing natural resources.

Other organisations in the public and private sectors will be able to use the platform’s services through commercial contracts with Space42.

Hasan Al Hosani, chief executive of smart solutions at Space42, said the platform would help to “democratise” access to space data.

“This collaboration exemplifies how public-private partnerships can accelerate innovation and position the UAE as a hub for advanced space applications that drive economic growth and competitiveness,” he said.

Users can request both archived and new satellite images from international agencies and private providers through the platform.

GIQ also features built-in AI models and analytics for studying land use, environmental changes and weather patterns, helping reduce pressure on software systems.

The GIQ platform brings together data from 10 satellite imagery providers, including Space42, Airbus, BlackSky, Nasa’s Landsat, Maxar, Planet, Satellogic, the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 and Sentinel-2, Umbra and the MBRSC.

Dr Sarath Raj, project director of the satellite ground station at Dubai’s Amity University, said GIQ will make it easier for students and researchers like him to work.

He said it helps bridge the gap between raw satellite data and real-world research projects that requires the use of satellites to study and solve problems.

“Traditionally, researchers rely on multiple software tools and fragmented data sources to process satellite imagery, often facing challenges in integration, accessibility and consistency,” he said.

“With GIQ’s unified AI-driven environment and access to data sets from over 300 satellites, our students and researchers can now seamlessly analyse regional phenomena such as urban heat islands, coastal changes, atmospheric dynamic and space weather impacts using real-time, pre-processed data.”

He said it could also help boost innovation and create internationally competitive programmes. The platform is now available online at GIQ.ae.