He tweeted earlier that day: “Whatever the outcome of the mission is, we have performed a successful mission. He recalled less than an hour before Hakuto-R’s scheduled landing, he made a realistic assessment of any outcome. But he was also aware that lunar landings are difficult and only have a 50 per cent success rate. “We have performed a successful mission'īut it was not a failure, AlMarri, who has around two decades of experience in engineering and space exploration under his belt, asserted during an exclusive phone interview with Khaleej Times on Wednesday.ĪlMarri said, personally, he would have really loved to see images of the first Rashid Rover on the Moon. That would have also made the UAE and ispace jointly only the fourth country and private entity that would have landed on the Moon, aside from the US, former Soviet Union and China. Measuring only 70cm X 50cm X 50m and weighing approximately 10kg with payload, Rashid Rover would have had the distinction of being the smallest lunar rover to have landed on the Moon. It was also equipped with sensors and systems to analyse the properties of regolith (lunar soil), dust, as well as radioactive and electrical activities. It was tasked to study the Moon’s surroundings for one lunar day, which is equivalent to 14.75 days on Earth. Had Hakuto-R landed successfully, the UAE-made lunar rover that was secured inside the lander by a robotic arm would have rolled out for its science mission on the Moon's Atlas crater located on the outer edge of Mare Frigoris (Sea of Cold), a never-before explored area in the northeastern quadrant of the Moon. 'It apparently went into a free-fall towards the surface as it was running out of fuel to fire up its thrusters,' ispace said. The spacecraft built by private company ispace was few moments away from touchdown when the ground control team in Tokyo lost communication with it.

The deployment of the first Rashid Rover on the Moon on April 25 did not materialise after Hakuto-R Mission 1, the Japanese-made lunar lander, failed to accomplish a soft landing on the lunar surface. The team at Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has already started working on the new lunar rover called Rashid 2 that will bring the UAE to the surface of the Moon, MBRSC director general Salem Al Marri has confirmed to Khaleej Times.

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