Abu Dhabi: The United Arab Emirates Rashid Rover sent its first message to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in Al Khawaneej, three days after its successful launch.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 carrying UAE’s Rashid Rover – the Arab world’s first mission to the Moon – was launched on Sunday, December 11, from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took to his Twitter account to announce MBRSC’s receipt of the message.
“From a distance of 440,000km from the surface of the Earth, the explorer Rashid just sent the first message to the space centre in Al Khawaneej,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.
“All the devices and systems of the explorer are working properly, and it will begin to enter the orbit of the Moon in preparation for landing during the coming months,” he added.
The global lunar exploration company ispace announced Wednesday that it has successfully captured images and transmitted them to the Hakuto-R Mission Control Center (MCC).
An image of the Earth captured by the lander, carrying aboard the Rashid Rover to the surface of the moon, was shared on Twitter.
“While initial checkout operations continue in ispace’s Mission Control Center (MCC), we have also received the first images taken by our lander-mounted camera! This is an image of the Earth about 19 hours after separation from the launch vehicle,” ispace said via Twitter(opens in new tab).
“What looks like a crescent moon here is actually the Earth. In the lower right, you can see a plate showing our Hakuto-R corporate partners (as of March 2022),” the company added in another tweet(opens in new tab).
The spacecraft will take a low-energy route to the moon instead of a direct approach, as the journey takes about five months after launch, while the explorer is scheduled to land on the moon by April 2023.
