A NEW FRONTIER
World’s most compact rover
Designed and developed fully by an Emirati team, Rashid Rover is touted as the world’s most compact rover. Its height is 70cm, length is 50cm and width is 50cm. It weighs around 10kg with payload, but can climb over an obstacle up to 10cm tall and descend a 20-degree slope.
The four-wheeled Rashid Rover has 3D cameras, advanced motion system, sensors, and communication system that are powered by solar panels. There are four cameras that move vertically and horizontally, including two main cameras, which are Caspex (camera for space exploration) and can withstand vibrations during launch and landing.
MBRSC has partnered with French space agency CNES for the two Caspex that will be used to analyse the properties of lunar soil, dust, radioactivity, electrical activities, as well as the rocks on the moon’s surface. One Caspex is installed on top of the rover’s mast to provide panoramic visibility of its surroundings while the rear-mounted camera will deliver images of the lunar soil with high spatial resolution.
What it will do on the Moon
Rashid Rover will study the Moon’s surroundings for one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 Earth days. There is a chance that its mission could be extended to another lunar day. After the first lunar day, the rover will go into hibernation or sleep during the lunar night (also equivalent to 14 Earth nights).
After that, the team will try to ‘wake up’ the rover to see if its systems are still active.
The temperature on the Moon drops to as low as -173 degrees Celsius from as high as 127 degrees Celsius.
In particular, the rover will study the characteristics of lunar soil, petrography (composition and properties of lunar rocks) and geology of the Moon. It will also take photos of the moon’s dust movement, surface plasma conditions, and the lunar regolith (blanket of superficial deposits covering solid rocks).
The rover will not return to Earth. What it will send to Earth are multiple images — around 10GB of recorded material and scientific data. The Emirates Lunar Mission team at MBRSC will use these to
test new technologies in material science, robotics, mobility, navigation and communications. The findings will also help in the design of future missions to survive and function in harsh space environment. “Rashid Rover’s drive tracks will be analysed to determine wheel sinkage and to investigate the detailed wheel-soil interaction. Such data will be important to design the mobility systems of future rovers,” MBRSC noted.
How to watch the launch
The historic launch of the Rashid Rover will be streamed live by the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), from 10.30am today. Viewers can visit MBRSC channel (www.mbrsc. ae/lunar) to watch mission briefings and catch all the action from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, culminating in the actual lift-off at 12.39pm (UAE time).
MBRSC earlier said the lift-off date and time are subject to change, depending on weather and other conditions at launch site.
Rashid Rover will study the Moon’s surroundings for one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14 Earth days. There is a chance that its mission could be extended to another lunar day.