Rashid Rover to go to moon on Nov 28

First Emirati Lunar Mission will be carried by Japanese-made lander Hakuto-R M1

Emirati-made Rashid Rover is set to go to the moon on November 28 – at the earliest – and is expected to land on the lunar surface by April 2023, the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced yesterday.

The first Emirati Lunar Mission (ELM) will be carried by Japanese-made lander Hakuto-R M1, aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that will lift off from the Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 12.46pm (UAE time). But the date and time are subject to change, depending on weather and other conditions at launch.

MBRSC also confirmed Atlas Crater, located at 47.5°N, 44.4°E on the moon’s southeastern outer edge of Mare Frigoris (“Sea of Cold”), as the rover’s landing site. If successful, the UAE will become the first Arab country and among the first countries in the world to land a spacecraft on the moon after the United States, former Soviet Union and China.