← T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
T-Minus: Space-Cyber Briefing
Oman’s Etlaq Spaceport.
00:28:44
Etlaq Spaceport is Oman’s first commercial spaceport, located at 18° latitude. We find out more from Chief Commercial Officer, Julanda Al-Riyami.
Loading summary
Transcript24 lines
- [00:02]
Alice Carruth
You're listening to the N2K Space Network.
- [00:11]
Dave
And now a word from our sponsor, ThreatLocker, the powerful Zero Trust Enterprise Solution that stops ransomware in its tracks. Allow Listing is a deny by default software that makes application control simple and fast. Ring Fencing is an application containment strategy ensuring apps can only access the files, registry key keys, network resources and other applications they truly need to function. Shut out cybercriminals with world class endpoint protection from Threat Locker.
- [00:45]
Alice Carruth
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 Oman? Let's find out more about the region's first commercial spaceport. This is T minus Deep Space. I'm Alice Carruth. In 2024, Oman held the first suborbital launch at the Atlac spaceport. I found out more from Atlac's chief commercial officer, Yolanda Al Ryami.
- [01:40]
Yolanda Al Ryami
So my name is Yolanda Ryami. I am the current Chief Commercial Officer at ATLA Spaceport. I've joined about 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 ETLAG 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 Etlach I was in Omantel 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 an mba.
- [03:00]
Alice Carruth
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 ATLAG spaceport been established over there?
- [03:12]
Yolanda Al Ryami
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. Etah is positioned at approximately 18 degrees in latitude in collaboration with NASCOM, the National Aerospace services company, which happens to now be the holding company of atlaq alongside with Amantel 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 a natural asset that Oman has. And ETLAB decided to tap into that and maximize the benefit that we can get from launching here. So we have access to equatorial orbits, sun synchronous and polar orbits, so we have a clear downrange clearance over the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean. So atla, it's in a location called, which is approximately five to six hour drive from the capital and about an hour and a half away from Dokkum is the spaceport location. And being in United Dokkum, 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 ATLAQ spaceport are quite comprehensive. We do intend for the master plan of ATLAC to be a one stop shop where launchers can come in, bring 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 VIPs 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 can maximize their efficiency, especially during a campaign. In our master plan we're accommodating for three launchpads 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 logistics standpoint, we're very close to a Special Economic Zone. The Docham 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, Dokhon Airport, which can accommodate the biggest aircraft. There's also the dokkamport, there's the deep sea 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 lead 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 weather, it's very predictable. So we know exactly when we can launch. Like traditionally the spaceports around the world are governed by the by regulators or they're say administered by the regulators and the regulator is the operator, for example NASA and historically also ESA and gnes. 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 stay sports, we have a double advantage here, commercial side and a location advantage.
- [08:27]
Alice Carruth
Obviously Oman's 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 setup do you have to attract companies to come in from outside of the region?
- [08:41]
Yolanda Al Ryami
Currently, Oman 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. NASSCOM which is the holding company of aetla, 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 UK CAA were 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 to fast track the implementation of a state 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.
- [10:05]
Alice Carruth
It obviously 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?
- [10:14]
Yolanda Al Ryami
Yeah, so we've done one launch, which was dot com one and that was in December of 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. Dokhon 1 was, we can call it, one of the historical milestones for the nation. It was a suborbital vehicle sounding rocket. It helped us establish the fact that Atlanta is here 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 emission 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 are replanning it for a later date. And we went ahead and planned the next mission which was Dokom 2. Now this is by a company called Stellar Kinetics and this is a much larger vehicle. It was 12 meter in height, 2 ton vehicle, 2 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, so we designed a new launch pad and we built the, 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 launcher as well as the payload integration. I think leading up to Dokom 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 500km. 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, 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 such experimental launches.
- [13:56]
Alice Carruth
It sounded incredible and I saw that you had international payloads on board there, students that came in from the UK for that launch as well.
- [14:04]
Yolanda Al Ryami
So yeah, the Jupyter program is a collaboration between three UK universities and they were working on a cubesat deployment mechan and they wanted to test that on this launch. And there was also a Taiwan based startup called Site Space that designed a pocket cube and this was designed to measure structural stress on the vehicle during launch.
- [14:39]
Alice Carruth
We'll be right back.
- [14:44]
Dave
Hey everybody, Dave here. I've talked about Deleteme before and I'm still using it because it still works. It's been a few months now and I'm just as impressed today as I was when I signed up. Deleteme keeps finding and removing my personal information from data broker sites and they keep me updated with detailed reports so I know exactly what's been taken down. I'm genuinely relieved. Knowing my privacy isn't something I have to worry about every day. The Deleteme team handles everything. It's the set it and forget it peace of mind. And it's not just for individuals. DeleteMe also offers solutions for businesses helping companies protect their employees personal information and reduce exposure to social engineering and phishing threats. And right now our listeners get a special deal. 20% off your delete me plan. Just go to JoinDeleteMe.com N2K and use promo code N2K at checkout. That's JoinDeleteMe.com N2k code N2K bad actors don't break in, they log in. Attackers use stolen credentials in nearly nine out of 10 data breaches. Once inside, they're after one thing your data. Varonis AI powered data security platform secures your data at scale across las SaaS and hybrid cloud environments. Join thousands of organizations who trust Varonis to keep their data safe. Get a free data risk assessment@varonis.com.
- [16:43]
Alice Carruth
Great opportunities for being able to study. And I mean as I've, I've worked at Suborbital Spaceport myself and I know how important suborbital flights are in helping you ramp up to 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?
- [17:02]
Yolanda Al Ryami
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 Genesys program. Any startup, any experimental launcher, any R and 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 lift vehicles like the likes of a Falcon 9. The three complexes would be supported by a 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. And all of that needs to be publicly accessible. As this becomes a national, let's say emblem, you know 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.
- [18:18]
Alice Carruth
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.
- [18:28]
Yolanda Al Ryami
So what we realized in the spaceport is that there are no special skill sets that we don't already have. An Oman to operate. To build and operate a spaceport, we need chemical engineers, electrical 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 space or 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. And the government has recently launched an accelerator program, the Oman Space Accelerator Program to bring in 10 teams that would pitch in their ideas and 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. So that's upcoming by the Ministry of Transport, Communications and Information Technology. And from our side at etla, we're continuing to always seek talent and train them. As we've doubled in size over the last year, we're looking to continue hiring and training and upskilling people in spaceport operations. And that happens through the Genesis program again, which is a learning curve. It throws us all on the Deep end. We are taking a lot of international consultation to upskill ourselves. So from the US and from the uk, I mean we don't have to reinvent the wheel. The information's already out there and if we can just take that, learn it and implement it over here, we can accelerate our impact in the economy.
- [20:23]
Alice Carruth
Absolutely. You mentioned that you're about six hours from Muscat 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 it is that you are offering up as a business park around the spaceport?
- [20:46]
Yolanda Al Ryami
So you know, driving from Muscat to, to Dokom takes about six hours. But I would, I would also have to say that there is an airport in Dokkum and it takes, 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. And I would put it this way. We have a deep sea port in Dokhum to accept any heavy equipment. We have container terminals not far as well in Salad and Suhar and Bastropian, so accept containers. So anything that goes by sea can go there. And the airport is big enough to accommodate the largest aircraft. So 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 so 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 and somebody's 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.
- [22:17]
Alice Carruth
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 Adlarcom and what you're hoping to achieve in the future?
- [22:28]
Yolanda Al Ryami
So Atlatum 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 space ports and launch cadence has been increasing, ATLA sees this opportunity as a way to free up that bottleneck. And so we're inviting launchers to come out here, see what we've got, see how friendly the 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. And any launchers that are looking to grow, you know, 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, taking into account safety distances that are inspired by the US FAA guidelines. So that would be my message. It is. We're open and we're ready to accept a global launcher's coming here.
- [24:10]
Alice Carruth
That's it for T minus Deep Space. Brought to you by N2K CyberWire we'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures 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 space2k.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@n2k.com N2K's producer is the Stoats. We're mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Iban. Peter Kilpe is our publisher, Maria Valmas is our general host, and I'm N2K senior producer Alice Carruth. Thanks for listening. SA foreign.
- [26:00]
Dave
Machine identities now outnumber humans by more than 80 to 1 and without securing them trust, uptime, outages and compliance are at risk. Cyber Arc is leading the way with the only unified platform purpose built to secure every machine identity, certificates, secrets and workloads across all environments, all clouds and all AI agents. Designed for scale, automation and quantum readiness, Cyberark helps modern enterprises secure their machine future. Visit cyberark.com machines to see how.