The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced it had launched a new project to explore the moon and would land an unmanned spacecraft on it in 2024.
Ruler of the Emirate of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum wrote on Twitter on Tuesday that the Emirati-made explorer would be named “Rashid” after his late father, “the builder of the renaissance of Dubai.”
He stated that the UAE, if it succeeds, will be the fourth nation in the world to have a spacecraft land on the moon and the first Arab state to do so.
The move came after the UAE successfully launched the Mars explorer “Hope” from Japan in July, marking the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
The probe should take seven months to reach Mars, where it is expected to spend two years in orbit, capturing images and studying the planet’s atmosphere and changing seasons.
