The Middle East are no strangers to the global space industry. Saudi Arabia and the UAE both have established national space agencies and made bold investments in the space industry in recent years. But what about the Sultanate of Iman? Let's find out more about the region's first commercial spaceport. This is Team Ina's Deep Space. I'm Alice Carruth. In 2024, Iman held the first suborbital launch at the Etlak spaceport. I found out more from Etlak's chief commercial officer, Yolanda Ariyami. So my name is Jolanda Ariyami. I am the current chief commercial officer at Etlak spaceport. I joined the belt a year and a half ago. I look after the marketing side of the business as well as sales and business development and events management. So Etlak has actually grown in size more than double over the last one year. And a lot of that has been in my department. So we've been accelerating all the activities there. Before joining Etlak, I was in Oman TEL, which is a telecommunications company, the National Telecom in Oman. And I was working in the customer journey management department, as well as the product management department. And prior to that, I was actually in Singapore working at Apple and strategy and operations, primarily all of the operations happening in Asia Pacific, various products, some of the flagships that everybody knows like iPhone and AirPods. And then prior to that, I was in the US, lived there for quite a while, did all of my education in the US, industrial engineering and MBA. I'm really excited to be talking to you today because you are bringing together, like I say, two of my favorite subjects, spaceports in the Middle East. Give us the pitch. Why Oman and why is Etlak spaceport been established over that? So Oman first started looking into what they can do in space a few years ago. If you go back about five to 10 years, there wasn't much activity in space. And when the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology looked into expanding its presence in the space sector, they first looked at the geography and thought that, hey, this is something that we naturally have, and it's an asset that you can't buy anywhere. And so the idea came to look for or to consider what are the strategic advantages that we can leverage in addition to any commercial advantages. So they started looking into a location. Etlak has positioned at approximately 18 degrees in latitude and collaboration with NASCOM, the National Airspace Services Company, which happens to now be the holding company of Etlak, alongside with Oman Tel as an investor. And when they found that 18 degrees is quite good and competitive globally, turned out to be just a natural fit. It is the right investment. And so that's an actual asset that Oman has. And Etlak decided to tap into that and maximize the benefit that we can get from launching here. So we have access to equatorial orbits, the tonsynchronous and polar orbits. So we have a clear downrange clearance over the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. So Etlak, it's a location called Dukhum, which is approximately five to six hour drive from the capital. And about an hour and a half away from Dukhum is the spaceport location. And being in United Dukhum, the population density is very low, which helps us a lot in terms of safety and keeping launches accessible and from a regulatory perspective compliant. The services that we're offering at Etlak spaceports are quite comprehensive. We do intend for the master plan of Etlak to be a one stop shop where launchers can come in bringing in their vehicles. They would have a place to store multiple vehicles under development. They would have all of the facilities required for launch such as payload integration facilities, testing of their equipment, electronics and software and fluids, and even engine testing, or so static fire testing. We would have client offices for them to bring in their satellite clients and host the IPs if needed. We would have mission control centers, range control centers and antenna farms, all of the equipment needed to track a launch, all that alongside with the accommodations so people staying on site close to where the work is done that can maximize their efficiency, especially during a campaign. In our master plan, we're accommodating for three launch pads and that would be for micro vehicles, medium class vehicles and heavy lift vehicles. So we're offering also the opportunity for clients to scale up as they're growing their operations and their access to space. From a logistic standpoint, we're very close to a special economic zone. The Dofam special economic zone has quite a few companies operating heavy industries. We have a refinery there. So in the long term, we can have quick and sustainable access to propellants. There's the airport, Dofam airport, which can accommodate the biggest aircrafts. There's also the Dofam port. There's the Deepsea port and quite a few other industrial companies. And lastly, I would say from a commercial standpoint, we have a business model that is tailored to all sizes of launchers. It is flexible. It is meant to help companies reduce their operating expenditure because we take on many of the services that a launcher might bring on their own. Or we can leave it up to the launcher to bring in those services so they can kind of cost optimize as they look to conduct an operation in terms of whether it's very predictable. So we know exactly when we can launch. Like traditionally, the space ports around the world are governed by regulators or they're, let's say, administered by the regulators. So the regulator is the operator, for example, NASA and historically also ESA and Ganes. But now we're looking at the commercial side of it. And what we figured is if we can come in, if we can target the private launchers at prices that are much more reasonable than the institutional space ports, we have a double advantage here, commercial side and the location advantage. Obviously, Omens had to go through a lot to establish the policies to put in place for being able to launch. How has that process been like? And what kind of set up do you have to attract companies to come in from outside of the region? Currently, Omens is in the pre-regulatory phase of space. And in this pre-regulatory phase, we have an operating model that is very lightweight and it actually allows us to conduct launches. NASCARN, which is the holding company at law, is also a qualified entity to review the safety cases for proposed missions. And given parameters that are up to global standards, for example, FAA or the UKCAA, we're able to get approvals for launch fairly quickly. In fact, within 14 weeks, we can have a mission planned from initial safety case till launch day. We are currently also working very closely with the government to help them or work towards fast track the implementation of a state's law, something that can be more encompassing and allows for more global companies to find their way into Oman and launch from Oman. And that process is something we're keeping track of. We're working very closely with the government on that. And it's something that will be coming in the near future. However, till then, we will be operating in this pre-regulatory phase, which is actually quite light and we find it attractive for our customer base. Now, obviously, it allows you to be able to launch already because you've already held, I believe, at least one suborbital launch. Can you tell us a little bit about the missions that you've held out at the spaceport so far? Yeah, so we've done one launch, which was Docom 1, and that was in December 2024. So leading up to that, we were first looking at the master plan of the spaceport and the fact that it would be ready in 2027 for commercial operations. And we didn't want to wait three years to have our first launch. So we decided to book a launch and establish some operational capability. Docom 1 was, we can call it one of the historical milestones for the nation. It was a suborbital vehicle, a sounding rocket. It helped us establish the fact that it allowed Azure and ready to operate launches. We built out the minimum viable spaceport facilities to allow for such a launch to happen. And that is accommodation units. It's a mission control cabin, a range control cabin, and a very small launch pad. And essentially, it was enough for the launchers to come in, establish their base there for a couple of weeks and plan the mission and take off. That was the kickoff for what we call the Genesis program, which is now operational in full force. The idea of the Genesis program is to host as many of these experimental launches as possible until the commercial spaceport is operational. And so we started off this year by planning the launch of Unity 1. The mission was planned by a company called Advanced Rocket Technologies in the UK. It's a startup working on reusable systems. And it's a prototype, a very small rocket designed to test out its ability to do a controlled ascent and descent. So that launch didn't happen for various reasons. And so we're replanning it for a later date. And we went ahead and planned the next mission, which was Docom 2. Now, this is by a company called Stellar Kinetics. And this is a much larger vehicle. It was 12 meter in height, two ton vehicle, two stages, active guidance and navigation system. So here we really upscaled ourselves and our teams to operate with some serious space launch capability. Our team took over all of the ground segment design. We designed a new launch pad. And we built the ground segment that holds the vehicle. And we designed the tank farm and all the fluid management systems. We also built a warehouse, well, the vehicle integration hangar for the operations to happen like all of the preparation, like the vehicle assembly software, continuing software development by the by the launcher, as well as the payload integration. I think leading up to Docom 2, it was the first serious attempt to make a launch that is based on international standards could be really putting us on the map. I mean, the expected apogee for that was 500 kilometers. We had to stand down while the vehicle was on the pad due to a technical issue on the vehicle. However, based on the spaceport operations, we hit all the milestones. It was major success on our part, all of the learnings, all of the infrastructure we built. From here onwards, we're looking forward to even more experimental launches. It sounded incredible. And I saw that you had international payloads on board. They're students that came in from the UK for that launch as well. So yeah, the Jupiter program is a collaboration between three UK universities, and they were working on a CubeSat deployment mechanism, and they wanted to test that on this launch. And there was also a Taiwan based startup called SightSpace that designed a PogetCube, and this was designed to measure structural stress on the vehicle during launch. We'll be right back. Great opportunities for being able to study. I mean, as I've worked at Suborbital Spaceport myself, and I know how important Suborbital flights are in helping you ramp up the things, it sounds a lot like your facilities are growing as you're attracting new customers coming in. What is the grand plan? What's the master plan for ECLAC? What we're offering is scalability at this stage. So as we grow, clients can grow with us. Leading into 2027, we're going to be operating this Genesis program. Any startup, any experimental launcher, any R&D work engine testing can be done at Camp Genesis right now. We're currently finalizing a master plan, which will have three launch complexes that would cater for micro vehicles, medium class vehicles, and heavy lifted vehicles, like the likes of a Felpin 9. The three complexes would be supported by Business Park, of course, which will have all of the supporting facilities like clean rooms, range control centers, antenna farms, mission control. We would also have accommodations on site, and we'd also be catering for any testing that needs to be on site. All of that needs to be publicly accessible as this becomes a national, let's say emblem, that Oman is a space-faring nation. We've got to have visitor centers for people to come in and experience what we're experiencing, be part of what's happening in the new space age. You mentioned opening it up to the public. What is Oman doing to help support a future workforce for the spaceport and the customers that come in and start launching there? Because obviously you've started to build up. What we realized in the spaceport is that there are no special skill sets that we don't already have in Oman to build and operate the spaceport. We need chemical engineers, electric engineers, mechanical engineers, radio frequency engineers. It's all the same stuff that we've already been studying and injecting into the workforce, but packaged differently in spaceport operations. Now, as the economy grows in space in general, so satellites and launch as well as satellite services, we do see a need to expand some of the skill base. The government has recently launched an accelerator program, the Oman Space Accelerator Program, to bring in 10 teams that would pitch in their ideas. Through international partners, they would help them grow their ideas into commercially viable businesses or projects so that we can add value to the local economy and the region as well. That's upcoming by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology. From our side, at Etlak, we're continuing to always seek talent and train them. As we have doubled in size over the last year, we're looking to continue hiring and training and upskilling people in spaceport operations. That happens through the Janus' Program again, which is a learning curve. It throws us all in the deep end. We are taking a lot of international consultation to upscale ourselves from the US and from the UK. We don't have to reinvent the wheel. The information is already out there. If we can just take that and learn it and implement it over a year, we can accelerate our impact in the economy. Absolutely. You mentioned that you're about six hours from MuskUp in a remote region. Understand that it doesn't always attract the right teams because people worry about how far away it is. What are you guys doing to combat the apprehension that baby customers have about how remote you are and what is that you are offering up as a business park around the spaceport? Driving from MuskUp to Dokum takes about six hours. I would also have to say that there is an airport in Dokum. It's just a one-hour flight. The spaceport is much more accessible than people think. If we can package that in the right way, it would be very understandable. I would put it this way. We have a deep-sea port in Dokum to accept any heavy equipment. We have container terminals not far as well, in Salah and Sohar, and MuskUp, so accept containers. Anything that goes by sea can go there. The airport is big enough to accommodate the largest aircraft. Any scheduled or unscheduled aircraft coming in for an operation can easily land there, and it's an hour and a half away from the spaceport. Now in terms of where people stay, we're building in our master plan the idea of having a campus that people can actually live in a very comfortable location where they have swimming pools, they have gyms, they have a campus-style living area. If somebody is out there for a campaign of 20 to 30 days, it doesn't feel like they're out in the desert in a camp environment. It feels very much like a business park where they have offices, they have recreation, and they more or less feel like home. It sounds like you guys have really thought this out and hopefully going to be attracting lots of companies coming in. What would you like our audience to know about Adlakum and what you're hoping to achieve in the future? So Adlakum is positioning itself as a hub for attracting any investments into the region. We do see ourselves as additional access to space that has not existed in this region. While there's a lot of constraints on global spaceports and launch cadence has been increasing, Adlakum sees this opportunity as a way to free up that bottleneck. So we're inviting launchers to come out here, see what we've got, see how friendly their operating environment is, and engage with the local ecosystem of space that we have. We've got a few satellite companies, ground station services companies. We also have satellite services companies. So the ecosystem is growing and we're helping to accelerate that. Any launchers that are looking to grow, first launch, second launch, or even looking at high cadence launches are also all welcome. In fact, over here, we don't have any restrictions on the number of launches that any particular company can do per year. We can have interoperability in the spaceport. It is designed in a way so that two launch complexes can operate at the same time without disrupting operations of each other. We've taken into account safety distances that are inspired by the USFAA guidelines. So that would be my message. We're open and we're ready to accept a global launchers coming here. That's it for Team Ionus Deep Space, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. We'd love to know what you think of this podcast, your feedback and shows. We deliver the insights to keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share a rating and review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes or send an email to space@n2k.com. We're proud that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. N2K helps space and cybersecurity professionals grow, learn and stay informed. As the nexus for discovery and connection, we bring you the people, technology and ideas shaping the future of secure innovation. Learn how at N2K.com. N2K's producer is Liz Stokes. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Tre Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Eiben. Peter Kilpe is our publisher. Maria Varmazis is our general host and I'm N2K Senior Producer Alice Carruth. Thanks for listening.
