UAE, China to Team Up for Lunar Missions

The UAE's Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has announced the signing of a memorandum of understanding with the China National Space Agency (CNSA) to implement lunar research.

MBRSC tweeted:

MBRSC and the China National Space Administration sign a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on future Moon missions involving the landing of an MBRSC rover aboard a CNSA lander.

MBRSC is already working on the Emirates Lunar Mission with two private sector partners to send the Rashid rover to the moon later this year. It will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and the rover will land aboard the Hakuto-R landing vehicle.

China has a successful track record of launching missions to the moon. China has carried out three missions to the lunar surface in the past decade - in 2013, Chang'e-3 landed a lander and rover on the near side of the moon, and in January 2019, Chang'e-4 landed a similar pair on the far side - the first soft landing on this little-studied part of the moon. Both missions are still in operation today. And in late 2020, the Chang'e-5 mission delivered lunar dirt and rocks to Earth, making its first return of lunar samples since the mid-1970s.