UAE's Lunar Mission To Be Launched in 2022

Emirates Lunar Mission is planning to send the UAE-made Rashid Rover to the lunar surface in 2022. The mission will cover a distance of 385,000 km and make UAE the first country in the Arab world and the fourth worldwide in lunar exploration.

Rashid Rover’s flight model is now complete and the dream of Arabs landing on the moon will soon become a reality, according to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).

Rashid Rover’s scientific goal is to better understand how lunar dust and rocks vary across the moon. The UAE-made Rashid Rover will be the ‘smallest and lightest’ rover ever to be deployed on the moon’s surface.

The mission embodies the aspirations of the UAE. The rover will collect images and information that will allow the UAE to conduct comprehensive and integrated studies on how to build human settlement on the moon, MBRSC added.

The Emirati moon rover will be delivered to the lunar surface by Japanese lander Hakuto-R, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, United States, during the launch window between October to December this year. The journey from Earth to the lunar surface will take around three months.