Daily Updates with RF Rizwan Farrukh
It has been announced by United Arab Emirates (UAE) that they plan to send first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.
Oil-rich UAE will be creating a space agency with the aim of sending the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.
An Emirati government statement said, “The UAE has entered the space race with a project to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 in the Arab world’s first mission to another planet.”
It added that a UAE Space Agency is to be created to drive the project.
UAE Vice President and ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said, “We chose the epic challenge of reaching Mars because epic challenges inspire us and motivate us.”
The statement also said that UAE investments in space technologies have topped 20 billion dirhams (3.2 billion) by now.
The country has a satellite data and television broadcast company, Al-Yah Satellite Communications, Earth mapping and observation system Dubai Sat, and mobile satellite communication company Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications.
The new agency will manage the country’s space technology sector and supervise the probe mission. This will take nine months to make the journey to Mars.
According to the statement, the UAE, a seven-emirate federation formed in 1971 will become the ninth country in the world with space programs to explore the Red Planet.
