The base, called Mars Dune Alpha, is designed to simulate the challenges that will be faced by the first people on the actual planet
The UAE has embarked on a 13-year project that will see it land a spacecraft on an asteroid billions of kilometres away from Earth. It’s aptly named after the man who does not believe in the word ‘impossible’ — His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The ‘Emirates Mission to the Asteroid Belt’ will see the MBR Explorer explore seven asteroids before ultimately touching down on Justitia in 2034.
These are the first images of the explorer:
Here’s a closer look at the spacecraft and its key features:
The spacecraft will explore the origins of asteroid Justitia. It will seek to answer these questions:
The mission will offer new insights into the solar system:
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The base, called Mars Dune Alpha, is designed to simulate the challenges that will be faced by the first people on the actual planet
Out of a pool of 4,305 applicants, Nora AlMatrooshi and Mohammad AlMulla were selected to undergo training at Nasa
Ingenuity logged 72 flights over three years, accumulating more than two hours of flight time, travelling 18km — more than 14 times farther than planned
It includes 180 days of research work across four phases with Emirati crew commencing participation in Phase 2
As part of the mission, UAE's space engineers will build a 10-tonne 'Crew and Science' airlock, the entry and exit point for astronauts on the Gateway
The agency's engineers are attempting to re-establish communications with Ingenuity
The rendezvous came about 37 hours after the Axiom quartet's Thursday evening lift-off in a rocketship from Nasa's Kennedy Space Centre
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon makes Japan the fifth nation to achieve a soft landing