In a mission that is the first in the Arab world and the fourth in the world, the Emirati space explorer, “Rashid”, set off towards the moon, on a 5-month journey.
The Emirati space explorer, Rashid, is scheduled to land on the moon in April 2023. He carries the Japanese lander “Hakuto-R” aboard the “SpaceX Falcon Nine” launch rocket, so that the UAE records a new achievement in the space sector, being the “first Arab mission”, reports a local Arabic daily quoting AFP.
The duration of the scientific mission is one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 days of those on Earth, and the spacecraft will take a low-energy path to the moon, rather than a direct approach.
The first attempt had already been delayed, allowing SpaceX to run some additional checks before the launch.
And the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center had announced that the launch date for the Emirates project to explore the moon was on November 28, before it was postponed.
The landing site for Rashid will be in the Atlas crater located at 47.5 degrees north, 44.4 degrees east on the southeastern outer edge of the Mare Frigoris region, or what is known as the “Sea of Cold”, located in the far north of the moon – the area was chosen, “to maintain flexibility during the completion of mission operations,” according to WAM agency.
The landing site was also chosen taking into account the multiple emergencies that can be used depending on the variables that occur during transportation, as the site has the technical specifications and scientific objectives of the Emirates Moon Exploration Project.
Rashid will, once it lands, study the characteristics of the soil on the surface of the moon and the rocks and geology of the moon. He will also see the motion of dust, plasma and the photoelectron, all of which are new discoveries around this region of the Moon.
The Atlas crater is a site that has not been previously explored by any of the spacecraft, or even previous manned missions, which makes the Emirates Moon Exploration Project “one of the most important anticipated missions.”
