Sharjah 24: In the coming days, the UAE is gearing up to record a new global achievement in the space sector, with the launch of the Explorer Rashid, completely built by innovative Emirati minds.

“Explorer Rashid”, which is the first Arab mission to the moon, and the fourth globally, affirms the UAE’s capacity to play a positive and pioneering role in the scientific research sector and related international explorations in this regard.

The UAE lunar mission team decided to open the launch window of “Explorer Rashid” between 9 and 15 November from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. With this, if the explorer landed successfully, the UAE would be the first Arab country and the fourth globally to undertake a space mission to explore the surface of the moon.

Once launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, Rashid Rover will take about 3 months to reach the moon, in a mission that takes one lunar day, equivalent to 14 Earth days, and can be extended.

The missions of Explorer Rashid include studying the moon’s plasma, providing answers about the moon dust, the lunar surface, mobility on the moon’s surface, and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles.