Dubai, UAE – A day after the Japanese moon lander Hakuto-R which carried the UAE’s four-wheeled Rashid rover apparently crashed on lunar surface, Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, on Wednesday announced Rashid 2, a new Emirati lunar mission that will be undertaken by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
Sheikh Mohammed visited the MBRSC and met with the team behind the UAE’s first attempt to land a rover on the lunar surface.
He expressed determination to achieve success in the space industry saying the UAE will continue to launch new space exploration missions.
Sheikh Mohammed, who is the Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, noted that though the attempt to land the Rashid Rover on the moon was unsuccessful, “we kept our aspirations high.”
“Emiratis have proved their ability to develop advanced space projects and rapidly create a vibrant national space sector,” he said. “The UAE built a space sector from scratch within just 10 years. The Rashid Rover mission was driven by the country’s ambitious vision for space exploration.”
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai Executive Council, who was accompanying Sheikh Mohammed said that any space mission has to contend with high levels of risk, which it manages in a scientific and systematic way to advance exploration and experimentation.
Sheikh Hamdan said the UAE will continue to develop its expertise and build an advanced space sector.
Interacting with the MBRSC team, he said, “Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid once said: ‘The biggest risk in life is not taking any risk’.”
Noting that the UAE is poised to enter a new phase of space exploration, he said: “Today, under the directives and guidance of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, we announce the launch of the Rashid 2 project, a new Emirati attempt to reach the moon.”
The two leaders met the national team of the Emirates Lunar Mission (ELM) after the iSpace confirmed the unsuccessful landing of the HAKUTO-R lander on Wednesday.
MBRSC accomplished its ambitious goal of designing and building the world’s most compact rover and becoming the first Emirati and Arab rover to reach the lunar orbit before the landing attempt onboard iSpace’s HAKUTO-R lander.
The Rashid Rover, integrated into iSpace’s HAKUTO-R lander, successfully lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on December 11, 2022 at 11:38 UAE time from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force, Florida. The ELM marked the first Emirati lunar mission, making the UAE the first Arab country to ascend toward the lunar surface.
The world’s most compact rover, the Rashid Rover was built to traverse and explore the Moon’s surface with a unique configuration. Weighing about 10 kilograms, the rover was around 80 centimetres high, around 53.5 centimetres long, and close to 53.85 centimetres wide.
MBRSC partnered with 10 international and four UAE-based entities for the Emirates Lunar Mission’s science programme. MBRSC developed the main instruments, the optical cameras, microscopic imager and Langmuir probe on board the Rashid Rover, in collaboration with close to 40 scientists and researchers.