As billionaires like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk pursue their ruthlessly ambitious visions of space colonization and off-world mining, they cast these endeavors as an escape from the limitations and “stasis” afflicting Earth. Yet their rhetoric echoes earlier epochs of extractivism and settler colonialism that have indelibly shaped the Middle East. What if we viewed the “new space race” not just through the Silicon Valley technoscientific imaginary, but through the region’s own rich astronomical legacies, cultural cosmologies, and fraught histories with colonial expansionism?
The Islamic Golden Age witnessed influential pioneers like al-Biruni, who calculated the radius of the Earth to a startling degree of precision, and Ibn al-Shatir, whose modeling of the solar system improved on Ptolemy’s geocentric theories. This continued a tradition of engaging with the cosmos that stretched back to prehistoric astronomical sites like Göbekli Tepe and Chogha Zanbil’s remarkable 5,000-year-old ziggurat. Al-Battani, another key figure, made significant advancements in trigonometry and astronomy, laying the groundwork for future space exploration. Such achievements laid foundations for subsequent space science and exploration, providing a rich heritage that informs current Middle Eastern initiatives.
Today, nations across the Middle East pursue ambitious space programs as symbols of technological ascendance and economic diversification. The UAE’s Hope Probe, which entered Mars’ orbit in February 2021, marked a significant milestone as the first Arab mission to another planet. Turkey’s Turksat satellites enhance communications infrastructure, supporting everything from broadcasting to internet services. Iran’s Simorgh rocket has successfully launched domestic satellites, despite international sanctions and geopolitical tensions. Israel’s private SpaceIL venture, which aimed for the Moon with its Beresheet lander, demonstrated the potential of non-state actors in the space race. Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan University operates a nanosatellite program, emphasizing education and innovation in space technologies.
Yet these high-profile endeavors also provoke polarizing debates around priorities and justice. Immense state resources funnel into the astronomic budgets and infrastructures for space exploration in countries still mired in poverty, conflict, and gender inequality. For instance, the UAE’s Mars mission is estimated to have cost around $200 million, a significant investment for a nation with ongoing socioeconomic challenges. Critics argue that such funds could address pressing issues like healthcare, education, and housing. However, proponents claim that these space programs drive technological innovation, economic growth, and national prestige.
There are also complex threads interweaving space activities with regional security dilemmas and geopolitical contests for primacy. The same rocket technologies enabling satellite launches stoke fears of latent weapons delivery systems. Iran’s space program, for example, has faced scrutiny from the international community over concerns that its advancements in rocket technology could be repurposed for military use. International governance regimes aimed at limiting proliferation, such as the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), could constrain national space ambitions. Rivals like Iran and Saudi Arabia beam signals of their technological capabilities through duelling spacecraft reveals, showcasing their advancements in a highly competitive geopolitical landscape.
Moreover, histories of colonial occupation, extractivism, and territorial conquest loom over contemporary space ventures in the region. The ostensible ability of whichever power “gets there first” to lay claim to celestial resources evokes traumas perpetuated by European and Ottoman expansionist projects. From Palestine to Western Sahara, the settler-colonial quest to “empty lands” is scorched into the Middle Eastern consciousness. This historical context adds a layer of complexity to current space endeavors, as nations grapple with the ethical implications of space exploration and resource extraction.
Space activity also carries weighty environmental repercussions that disproportionately impact the arid climate. Intensifying launches deposit particulates and greenhouse gases in the upper atmosphere, contributing to climate change. The UAE, for example, conducted several rocket launches in a short period, raising concerns about the cumulative environmental impact. Accumulating orbital debris shrouds the night sky, posing risks to both current and future space missions. On an overheating planet farmed for its last drops of oil, water, and lithium, venturing outwards may seem like an escape, but it risks replicating destructive patterns of resource exploitation and environmental degradation.
Speculative writers like Ayatollah Morteza Motahhari and Mustafa Mahmoud offer Islamic visions of space exploration rooted in traditions of itinerant curiosity and contemplations of divine creation. The Quran metaphorically lauds those who “ponder the creation of the heavens and earth” and celebrates knowledge. Yet there are also warnings against transcending human limits and ethical guardrails through vain conquest. These cultural and religious perspectives provide a rich tapestry of thought that can inform a more holistic approach to space exploration.
Perhaps, ultimately, the quest is less for escaping earthly confines and more for addressing the mindsets and forces driving humanity towards those seeming limits in the first place. From the region’s foundation as a cradle of celestial investigation, a Middle Eastern space ethics and jurisprudence of the cosmos could emerge. One expanding humanity’s eco-spiritual consciousness rather than its footprint, rehabilitating outer space as a true common heritage before it is irrevocably enclosed. This approach would honor the region’s historical legacies while addressing contemporary challenges, offering a vision of space exploration that is inclusive, ethical, and sustainable.
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Victoria Mummelthei (26. Juni 2024). ai and the Middle East, Reaching for the Stars: The Middle East’s Celestial Ambitions and Archaeologies. Keine Disziplin – No Discipline. Abgerufen am 27. März 2025 von https://doi.org/10.58079/13jrh
Space and AI together raise a lot of questions. Often our imagination revolves around “the West” conquering space or its rivalry with Russia or China. However, the MENA region and its perspective on space is often pushed aside, although the question of Islam when faced with space and AI is an interesting one. Will the MENA region create policies around the idea of “jihad”, for example? Will governments and countries continue to rule as they are, or will they change? For example, will AI help with the problems of access to space? The limits of our thinking depend on our knowledge of the world; however, it is not fixed how religions and countries will reflect on the fact that the universe was not created for humans. We have already discussed how the algorithm is seen as this almost celestial thing that nobody really understands. Then maybe it’ll create its own version of religion. Could the reason for this kind of secrecy, especially in the MENA region, be an active avoidance of religion?