UAE ramps up space ambitions with Arab world’s first Moon mission

Good news! Now with the Abraham Accords Peace Agreement signed, will the UAE and Israel join forces in space exploration? This could become a match made in space or a booster rocket like few others! As I wrote here, Israel is already pursuing private space exploration and moon missions of its own.

"The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced plans to send a compact rover named Rashid to study the Moon in 2024, marking an intensification in the small nation’s spacefaring ambitions. If it is successful, the UAE Space Agency would become only the fifth to succeed in placing a craft on the Moon’s surface, and the first in the Arab world. ... For a country with just 14 years’ experience in any kind of space exploration — and which this year launched its first interplanetary orbiter on a journey to Mars ... The UAE Space Agency is just 6 years old, its satellite programme only 14 years old and the country awarded its first PhD in any field just 10 years ago."

UAE ramps up space ambitions with Arab world’s first Moon mission With its orbiter Hope on its way to Mars, the United Arab Emirates has now set its sights on the Moon.