They dreamed of it, they did it

Emirati engineers who worked on KhalifaSat share their journey of excitement

We consider KhalifaSat as the backbone of this space centre. In the beginning, many people said [our project] was impossible... however, it is ready for launch.”

Abdullah Al Shehi | Senior mechanical engineer

Back in university, Abdullah Al Shehi worked on the UAE’s first nanosatellite. The project sparked his love for space tech that made him part of the 70-member team that built the country’s first purely Emirati-made satellite, the KhalifaSat.

The senior mechanical engineer’s role was to design and analyse the structure of KhalifaSat that’s due for launch tomorrow. He also supported the assembly of the spacecraft.

“My senior design project was Nayif-1, the first UAE cube satellite. This was my senior exam before graduating from university. I had the passion to continue working on space tech; it was very new in the UAE then,” Al Shehi, 26, told Gulf News.

He was among the first generation of Emiratis to receive the transfer of knowledge by the first batch of 10 Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) engineers who worked and studied in South Korea in 2006 to build the DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2.

Coming from a family of engineers, building something worthwhile came naturally for Al Shehi. But the long hours of work - in and out of the clean room where the satellite was built - was what he found most challenging.

“We had to finish everything on a strict deadline. So we would start work at 6am and finish at around 3pm or 4pm. The most critical part is while doing the assembly itself. So you have a very long procedure. Even while doing the assembly, you have to write down every step and anything that changes.”

The task was so challenging, it follows them in their dreams sometimes.

“We have a joke in the mechanical section — if you’re not dreaming about the project, then you’re not doing it right,” said Al Shehi. But jokes apart, he said they were able to maintain work-life balance because the project was planned and managed well.

Now that his “baby”, KhalifaSat, is ready for launch, every effort was worth it, he said.

“We consider KhalifaSat as the backbone of this space centre. In the beginning, many people said [our project] was impossible. They called it the impossible journey. However, KhalifaSat is now ready to launch, so nothing really is impossible.

“If you put your heart and soul into something, you can achieve it, maybe not today, not tomorrow, but eventually you’re going to achieve it. Now, we’re ready for the next project,” said Al Shehi.