One lucky citizen of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates could soon get the chance to be rocketed into space.

Government-backed Aabar Investments on Sunday announced the start of a competition to award an Emirati a free spot aboard Virgin Galactic's spaceship when it begins ferrying space tourists briefly into space.

The UAE is a seven-state federation that includes Dubai and the federal capital Abu Dhabi.

Contest details have yet to be worked out. But it appears the large numbers of expatriates who far outnumber the local Emirati population aren't eligible.

Virgin Galactic has not set a firm start date to begin taking paying passengers on its suborbital flights. Aabar is a partial owner of the company along with Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group.