A small nation, but with high investment capacity. And among the areas chosen for investment, space is one of them.
Of the nearly two hundred countries on our planet, only a dozen are capable of building, launching, and tracking their space artifacts. Today, this is a key factor for a nation to have active voice in the international scenario.
About half of all countries have their own satellites orbiting our planet, but few have the know-how to build these artifacts.
The United Arab Emirates decided to solidly enter the space industry. In 2014 a government space agency, the United Arab Emirates Space Agency (UAESA) was born (website https://space.gov.ae/ ), and there are plans to send space probes to Mars. The idea is to launch the Hope spacecraft in July 2020, so that it will reach Mars and orbit that planet in July 2021, when the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE will be celebrated.
References
https://www.n2yo.com/satellites/?c=&t=country
https://www.idc.ac.il/he/research/ips/Documents/publication/5/ShaulShay-UAE-SpaceRace15.10.18.pdf
https://spacenews.com/uae-to-establish-space-investment-plan/