DUBAI: The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced that the “Explorer Rashid” team has completed the final stage of the tests, the last step separating the explorer from the launch date for the completion of the Emirates Moon Exploration Project, the first Emirati mission to the surface of the moon.

Salem Humaid Al Marri, Director General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, said: We congratulate and thank all members of the team who worked hard and diligently during the past period of tests with the aim of making the Emirates project to explore the moon a success, which will constitute a new scientific qualitative leap for the United Arab Emirates, and will pave the way for more Future space exploration missions, as this project embodies the spirit of innovation and scientific progress that characterises the UAE and its contribution to research and explorations of global space sciences.

For his part, Dr. Hamad Al Marzouqi, Director of the Emirates Lunar Exploration Project, said: “All of us at the MBRSC are waiting for this long-awaited moment, after we have completed the testing stages, and today we are preparing to move on to the next and final stage of our mission before launch, which includes placing the explorer in the launch rocket.”

“We stress the importance of the sciences and technological technologies that have been applied in the Emirates project to explore the moon and their role in providing an answer to several questions related to the geology of the lunar surface, which we have worked on for years,” he added.