The United Arab Emirates on Tuesday announced plans to send an unmanned rover on the moon by 2024.
Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum tweeted: “The rover will be 100% manufactured and developed in the UAE by Emirati Engineers. The UAE will be the fourth country in the world to send a mission to explore the moon. We will continue our contribution to the global pursuit of knowledge for the benefit of humanity.”
The rover would send back data and images from regions of the moon unexplored by previous lunar missions, said Al Maktoum, adding that “the gathered data will be shared with global research centers & institutions.”
The UAE launched its “Hope” (Al Amal) mission to Mars in July, and the probe is slated to reach the planet in February.
If the UAE successfully puts a spacecraft on the moon, it will be only the fourth nation to do so after the United States, the Soviet Union and China.
