Abu Dhabi: Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre’s (MBRSC’s) Rashid rover, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) first mission to the lunar surface, is all set for its historic mission — with the final phase of testing now complete.
Rashid, a 10-kilogram rover, is safely stored inside the Hakuto-R Mission 1 (M1) lander, built by a Japanese company called ispace.
The UAE’s first Moon mission is expected to launch from a spaceport in Cape Canaveral, Florida, during November 9 – 15, 2022 on board a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced on Wednesday that Rashid rover, the UAE’s first mission to the lunar surface, has officially cleared all required tests, pushing the mission one step closer to its launch pad rollout and liftoff.
Rashid Rover is now ready for the final integration process with the launch vehicle before its launch window.
Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai has also tweeted to congratulate the team for their efforts in develping the Rashid Rover.
“We thank the team at MBR Space Centre for their efforts in developing the Rashid Rover, the UAE’s first mission to the Moon,” he tweeted.
“The rover has officially cleared all required tests, bringing the first Arab mission to the lunar surface one step closer. Our next stop: the Moon,” he added.
In a statement, Salem Al Marri, Director General of MBRSC, congratulated the Emirates Lunar Mission (ELM) team.
“Congratulations to the ELM team that worked tirelessly to get Rashid Rover ready for the launch,” he said.
“The lunar mission will engineer a new scientific reality for Emiratis and pave the way for more space exploration missions by MBRSC. This mission also exemplifies the nation’s spirit of innovation and scientific progress, while also contributing to global space science research and explorations,” Al Marri added.
Over the previous four months, the rover has been subjected to a collection of strict inside and exterior critiques, the Emirates News Agency (WAM) reported.
The reviews were designed to test out every one of the multitudes of systems and subsystems of the rover during the launch stage, cruise stage, and descent stage.
Beginning of the year, the ELM rover completed the assembly and first set of full functional tests of the flight model in the laboratories of MBRSC in Abu Dhabi.
In the second phase, the Rashid rover completed a series of environmental tests at Toulouse, France.
The tests campaign concluded in Germany with the final phase of checks on the interfaces with the ispace lander that will safely deliver the rover to the Moon’s surface.
Built by innovative Emirati minds within the state-of-the-art laboratories of MBRSC based in the UAE, the rover is equipped with the latest technologies and a deliberated design to enable all the planned scientific research work.
The primary goal of the mission is to study the moon’s plasma and to provide answers about moon dust, the lunar surface, mobility on the moon’s surface, and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles.
About MBRSC
The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) was established in 2006 and is responsible for developing the UAE’s National Space Program.
The centre includes more than 200 engineers working in the Emirates Satellite Program, the Emirates Astronaut Program, the Emirates Mars Exploration Mission, and the Mars 2117 Program.
