Dubai ruler announces new moon mission called ‘Rashid Rover 2’

Abu Dhabi: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced on Wednesday the second attempt to land on the moon, the rover would be called Rashid 2.

This came after the Japan’s Hakuto-R Mission 1 spacecraft, carrying the Rashid Rover, got lost moments before it landed on the moon on Tuesday.

“The mission of the vehicle carrying the explorer Rashid did not succeed in landing on the surface of the moon… but we succeeded in raising the ceiling of our ambitions to reach the moon… and we succeeded in making a team of our young men and women capable of managing advanced space projects… and we succeeded in building a space sector from zero within 10 years,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted on Wednesday.

Sheikh Mohammed continued, “Today, explorer Rashid 1 is on the surface of the moon, carrying the flag of the Emirates… to constitute the greatest evidence of our courage… and our thinking outside the box… and our attempt to reach the moon… From today, work will begin on Rashid 2… a new explorer… for a new attempt to reach for the moon.”

Sheikh Mohammed added, “We are a country founded on ambition. We are a country that has not stopped since December 2, 1971. It will not stop. It will not turn around. It will not set small goals for itself. The coming is more beautiful, greater and bolder, God willing.”

Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, tweeted, “The biggest risk is not to take risks,” says the one whose name bears the space center, ‘Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid.’ The nature of the space sector is a high risk rate, and we accept that.”

Sheikh Hamdan also said, “We have had the honor of trying to reach a new point in the history of the UAE… and we have had the honor of raising our ambitions so that space, its planets and stars will be its ceiling.

“And we directed Mohammed bin Rashid to start immediately developing Rashid 2… a new vehicle… for a new attempt to reach the moon, God willing.”

Both rovers are named after the late Sheikh Rashid, founder of modern Dubai and father of Sheikh Mohammed.

The Rashid 1 mission was the first under the UAE’s local lunar exploration program, which took a team of 11 engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center six years. No date has been set for the second attempt.