30-07-2025
Emirati pilot turned entrepreneur aims to build data centres in space
30 July 2025 21:08
A. SREENIVASA REDDY (ABU DHABI)An Emirati technology startup is setting its sights far beyond Earth—quite literally—by unveiling a bold plan to build data centres in Space, founded in 2023 by Emirati entrepreneur and former airline captain Shareef Al Romaithi, aims to tackle the climate impact of traditional, energy-hungry data infrastructure by placing data processing and storage facilities in low Earth orbit. The venture signals a pioneering step for the region in blending space exploration with digital sustainability.'Data centres are very energy intensive. They're extremely harmful to the environment. In fact, they emit more carbon than the aviation industry, which is quite alarming,' Al Romaithi told Bloomberg's Joumanna Bercetche during an interview on the 'Horizons: Middle East and Africa' programme.'Going to space and placing data centres there gives us the opportunity to address the exponential growth of data that is being generated, both on Earth as well as in space in a sustainable and secure manner.'Al Romaithi brings an unusual mix of aerospace expertise and academic credentials to the mission. He began his career in 2007 as part of the inaugural batch of Etihad Airways' cadet pilot programme, and later became the airline's first cadet to rise to the rank of professional and academic trajectory took a unique turn when he participated in a 45-day Mars simulation project inside a NASA habitat in Houston, a bachelor's degree in aerospace engineering and three master's degrees from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Al Romaithi made history in 2014 by earning a PhD in aviation from the same institution. He was the first Emirati—and only the eighth person globally—to achieve this distinction, according to an Etihad Airways post on its website. Madari Space's mission may sound like science fiction, but Al Romaithi insists the timing is right.'This would not have been possible 15 to 20 years ago, but today with the reduced cost of launch services, the price per kilogram to launch any product or technology into space has reduced dramatically,' he company sees vast potential in processing data directly in orbit. With the number of satellites rapidly increasing, space is becoming a significant source of raw, unprocessed data—expected to reach 3,500 petabytes by 2035.'This data is all raw, unprocessed that must be downstreamed to terrestrial data centres. By placing data centres in space, we have the ability to store and process this data in space, enabling the data owners to make informed decisions in real time,' Al Romaithi is targeting both terrestrial and orbital clients, ranging from governments to corporations managing large cited Estonia's use of a secondary data centre in Luxembourg as a model, 'Should anything happen to their data centres in Estonia, they can revert to their data centres in Luxembourg with no loss of sensitive and critical data. So this can be applied to various countries that view security as an issue—we can store their sensitive and critical data in orbit.'The company is already planning its first mission, scheduled for the third quarter of 2026, in collaboration with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and the United Nations Office for Outer Space whether the UAE was the right launchpad for such a venture, Al Romaithi responded with confidence.
'Being located in the UAE is quite advantageous for us. We are getting tremendous support from the UAE Space Agency and other stakeholders across the country. This would allow us to advance our technology and reach a maturity level that would allow us to reach commercial operations very soon," he said.
Source: Aletihad - Abu Dhabi
