How partnership with Space42 is advancing the UAE leadership in the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters
The UAE leadership of the International Charter: Space and Major Disasters is one of the clearest indicators that its space sector has grown significantly in the past two decades. Guided by an ambitious vision, the industry has been transformed into one that shapes space capability on a global scale. This shift is largely supported by the launch of the National Space Strategy 2030, the industry’s development framework spanning government, commercial, and academic activity, across 21 programs and 79 initiatives reaching more than 85 entities nationwide. In the short eight years since joining the Charter, the nation now holds the lead position for six months, driving its efforts to provide disaster relief organizations with rapid, free access to satellite imagery within hours of an incident, replacing traditionally slower, fragmented agency aid processes. Supporting the UAE Space Agency (UAESA) in this endeavor, Space42, the AI-powered SpaceTech company that integrates satellite communications, geospatial analytics and artificial intelligence, is actively delivering insights that shape disaster response globally.
Understanding the technicalities, reach, and impact of an event from orbit, whether a wildfire in Central Asia or an earthquake in South America, depends on national agencies, international partners, and technology providers each contributing to a shared response. The need for this concerted effort is imminent, with 124 million people affected by disasters annually between 2015 and 2023, as reported by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. As these occur more frequently across inhabited landscapes; national emergency systems, government players, and commercial entities favor solutions that incorporate earlier impact detection and heightened reactive response. Speed and coordination across organizations tuned to the atmospheric, land, and environmental signals are essential to sensing shifts in weather patterns and ground movement. The International Charter: Space and Major Disasters enables this aligned response, and Space42’s involvement reflects both its mission to enlighten Earth from Space, as well as its conviction that space technology’s value is realized through an ecosystem approach.
Since UAESA assumed leadership of the Charter, Space42 involvement has spanned technical coordination, readiness support, and value-added geospatial analysis. Space42 team members have taken part in Project Manager and Value Adder training workshops, as well as SARE-32 exercise preparation. This involves close collaboration with the UAESA, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), the European Space Agency, and other Charter partners on activation readiness, imagery access, and the delivery of value-added products, in line with the Charter's established ambitions. GIQ, Space42’s AI-powered geospatial intelligence platform created in partnership with the UAESA, has also proven invaluable in analyzing extensive Earth observation data, ready to support across multiple use cases as needed.
Mapping a Wildfire in Kazakhstan
A wildfire reported on June 9, 2026, in the Akmola region near Yereymentau, Kazakhstan, triggered a Charter activation. Once MBRSC, acting as Project Manager for the request, assembled the dossier defining the area of interest and the available satellite imagery, Space42 took on the role of Value Adder to lead the analysis. Working from Charter-provided Landsat-8 and Landsat-9 imagery, the Space42 team compared pre- and post-fire scenes, and applied a burn-severity index to isolate and classify the affected area.
The assessment found a burned area of approximately 3.3 square kilometers, or 0.12 percent of the 2,804-square-kilometer precautionary zone defined by the request. The result was cross-checked against an independent image pair and found consistent. This gave rise to the compact burn scar with scattered grass patches across the wider landscape, rather than a large contiguous fire front.
Supporting the Response to Earthquakes in Venezuela
Space42 also supported a Charter activation following earthquakes in Venezuela, sharing Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imagery of the affected areas to enhance situational awareness on the ground. Unlike the Kazakhstan activation, this contribution called for SAR visibility, demonstrating agility in response to the unique needs of each crisis as it unfolds.
The imagery was drawn from Space42's Foresight constellation, recently expanded through the operational availability of Foresight-3, Foresight-4, and Foresight-5. Comprising five satellites, Foresight is the first dual-use SAR constellation in the region, delivering 25-centimeter resolution imagery day or night and in any weather, proving invaluable in this instance.
Value Added Product related to activation earthquake in Venezuela. Credit: UAE Space Agency
A Standing Contribution
Hasan Al Hosani, Chief Executive Officer of Smart Solutions at Space42 commented, “Space42's involvement in the Charter reflects our commitment to the space ecosystem while delivering against our strategic pillars to provide premium geospatial data globally and become a leader in geospatial intelligence, AI-enabled platforms, and services. Supporting the UAE Space Agency's leadership of the Charter is a natural extension of our effort to serve as a valuable partner to government and national agencies, when and where it matters most.”
As the UAE's leadership of the Charter continues, Space42 expects its role in coordination, event-readiness, and AI-enabled analysis to grow alongside it.