MUSCAT: In today’s space race, it’s the lean and adaptive — not the legacy giants — who are setting the pace. As private space companies push the boundaries of propulsion systems, small satellite tech and reusable launch vehicles, they’re increasingly on the lookout for launch partners that offer more than just real estate. One of the newest — and most surprising — answers to that call is Oman.
Etlaq Spaceport, located near the coastal city of the Wilayat of Al Duqm, Al Wusta Governorate, is gaining attention from space startups across the globe. Not because it’s the biggest, but because it’s fast, flexible and surprisingly accessible.
Backed by Oman’s National Aerospace Services Company (NASCOM), the spaceport has quickly positioned itself as a responsive, startup-friendly gateway — an emerging alternative to heavily booked and bureaucratically burdened launch complexes.
Stellar Kinetics has chosen Etlaq for the maiden launch of its Kea-1 vehicle. “The upcoming mission will be the inaugural launch of the Kea-1 vehicle, offering a unique opportunity to test orbital class systems such as stage separation mechanisms and active guidance under unprecedented timelines,” stated a company representative. Their mission is part of the Duqm-2 suborbital flight scheduled this year.
Stellar Kinetics is part of a growing shift in the new-space economy, where iterative testing, agile development and hardware validation happen quickly — and repeatedly. Traditional launch sites can involve long wait times, complex onboarding and rigid launch windows. For smaller companies trying to keep pace with tight funding milestones and evolving designs, those delays can be deal-breakers.
Etlaq’s agile structure is built to answer that need. Through its Genesis Programme, the spaceport enables launch service providers to move from planning to liftoff in as little as 14 weeks. This type of responsive launch cadence is rare in a market dominated by legacy infrastructure.
Beyond timeline acceleration, startups are drawn to Etlaq’s partnership mindset. Rather than offering pre-packaged services, the spaceport provides custom launch support — vehicle integration, environmental testing and mission coordination tailored to the provider’s needs. For startups that don’t have the scale or capital of larger aerospace firms, this degree of access and flexibility is a game-changer.
Even research payloads are finding opportunities in Oman. Onboard Duqm-2 will be two international experiments from the UK’s university-led JUPITER programme and Taiwan’s SIGHT Space. The teams are sending a compact CubeSat and an even smaller PocketQube to conduct microgravity experiments and onboard systems validation — objectives that are often delayed, deprioritised and prohibitively expensive in larger missions elsewhere.
Oman’s location, near the equator with direct ocean overflight zones, gives technical advantages for a wide range of orbits. But more importantly for these startups, the country is building a framework that supports innovation: clear regulatory pathways, public-private collaboration and an openness to emerging technologies.
While Oman’s space programme is still in its early stages, its engagement with foreign startups is already shaping a reputation: not as a competitor to the world’s spacefaring superpowers, but as a strategic enabler for the next generation of launch providers.
In this new era of space access, Etlaq offers something rare — speed, access and support for those trying to build the future of flight.
Startups aren’t just coming to Oman to launch. They’re coming here to learn fast, move fast and fly again.
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