UAE, China sign MoU to collaborate on joint space projects

UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on September 16.

The agreement was signed by Salem Humaid AlMarri, director general of the MBRSC, and Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of CNSA, marking the start of the first joint space project between China and the UAE, and laying the groundwork for future opportunities for space cooperation between the two parties.

The UAE will also receive CNSA’s support for a future lunar mission.

MBRSC and the China National Space Administration sign a Memorandum of Understanding to collaborate on future Moon missions involving the landing of an MBRSC rover aboard a CNSA lander. pic.twitter.com/xEr27U6W5S

— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) September 16, 2022

China continues to focus on moon exploration through its participation in many space projects, such as the ‘Change 5’ mission, which landed over the “ocean of storms” on the moon’s surface in December 2020, collecting 1.73 kilogrammes of lunar samples and bringing them to Earth for study.

Meanwhile, the Emirates Lunar Mission, launched in 2020, is scheduled for a November launch.

An integral part of the mission, the ‘Rashid’ rover, a 10-kilogramme four-wheel robotic vehicle developed by Emirati engineers, will be carried to the lunar surface on a Japanese lander, Hakuto-R Mission 1, as part of its agreement with Japan’s ispace.

Read: UAE partners with Japan for mission to send ‘Rashid’ rover to the moon

The mission will blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre, becoming the first Emirati and Arab mission to explore the moon.