UAE launches first Arab-built moon rover through SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

Middle East, News December 12, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

The United Arab Emirates becomes the first Arab country to launch its moon rover into space. The lunar spacecraft was launched on December 11, 2022, at the Cape Carnival Space Force Station in Florida using SpaceX Flacon 9 space rocket.

The rover has been named Rashid and it was built at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai. The rover was placed inside a HAKUTO-R lander pod which has been designed by a Japanese lunar exploration company. If successful, the landing would also mark HAKUTO-R’s first commercial landing on the moon.

The mission is taking an energy-efficient route to the moon to keep the cost down to a minimum and it is set to arrive at the surface of the moon by April 2023.

Once landed, the rover would spend about one lunar day, which equates to about 14.5 days on Earth, conducting its main operation while the second lunar day would be spent conducting secondary operations before decommissioning.

After sending all the relevant information, the solar-powered rover would be left on the moon to check how long it can survive the harsh lunar environment.

The rover is scheduled to touch down inside the Atlas crater on the northern part of the moon. It has been designed to use minimal power to save energy and survive a whole lunar night. The rover can also operate in temperatures as low as -183 degrees centigrade.

*^{UAE engineers pictured inside the clean room, along with the Rashid rover, in the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre. (Image Credit: MBRSC)}*

The Rashid rover has been named after Sheik Rashid Al Saeed, who was Dubai’s former ruler and head of the royal family. It weighs around 10 kilograms and its construction began in 2017 at Mohammad bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai, which is named after the son of Sheik Rashid Al Saeed.

The Rashid rover has been designed to analyze plasma from the lunar surface and it will conduct several experiments to analyze the lunar dust. The information gathered from these experiments would be sent back and used to develop techniques to cope with the razor-thin lunar dust particles that can stick and erode the space equipment and cause severe operation disruptions for astronauts.

The launch comes shortly after that of NASA’s Artemis 1 lunar rocket which is being deemed as the first step towards sending astronauts back onto the surface of the moon. UAE also plans to send several vehicles, including rovers and orbiters, to the moon, with a second rover planned to launch as soon as 2025.