18 June 2025

Space42 announced the opening of Mira Aerospace’s new high-altitude platform station (HAPS) manufacturing facility in Abu Dhabi, marking the first such facility in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

The 4,500-square-meter plant aims to produce over 20 HAPS UAVs annually to support civil, environmental, and defense applications.

This facility will enhance Mira Aerospace’s research, development, and commercialization efforts for HAPS technology, which is experiencing rapid growth. Khaled Al Marzooqi, CEO of Mira Aerospace, highlighted the increasing global demand and Space42’s strategic investments to solidify its leadership in this market.

The opening follows recent milestones, including a partnership with local testing hub XRange in February 2025 for UAV trials and the development of payloads for Earth observation and telecoms, supporting environmental monitoring, disaster response, urban planning, and agriculture. Notably, Mira successfully demonstrated 5G connectivity via HAPS in October 2023.

This new facility is part of Space42’s broader strategy to expand vertically integrated manufacturing and data infrastructure. The company is also collaborating with ICEYE to co-produce LEO Earth observation satellites in the UAE, having launched two satellites so far, with the latest reaching orbit in January 2025.