- The prime minister and vice president of the United Arab Emirates has said his country plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024.
- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai emirate, made the announcement on Twitter.
- It will be an Emirati-made lunar rover that will land on the surface of the moon in 2024 in areas that have not been explored previously by human missions.
- The rover would be named Rashid after his late father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
- If successful in 2024, the UAE could become the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China.
- India, Israel and Japan have tried but failed in landing a spacecraft on the moon.
- In July, the UAE’s Amal (Hope) probe was launched from Japan, marking the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
- Amal is set to reach Mars in February 2021, the year the oil-rich Gulf state celebrates 50 years of its formation.
- In September that year, Amal will start transmitting Martian atmospheric data, which will be made available to the international scientific community.
- Last year, the UAE sent its first astronaut to the International Space Station. The country has also set a goal to build a human colony on Mars by 2117.
