The UAE’s next goal in space is to place an Emirati astronaut on the surface of the Moon within 10 years, the chief of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre said.
Salem Al Marri, director general of the centre, said at the World Governments Summit in Dubai on Wednesday that activities on the Moon would help pave the way for Mars missions.
“What drives me, and I think drives a lot of people at the MBRSC, is that we want to see an Emirati on the surface of the Moon within the next 10 years,” Mr Al Marri said.
“And I think we will do everything that we can to make sure that happens.”
Reaching for the stars
The Emirates has made significant strides in the global space race in recent years. Hazza Al Mansouri made history in September, 2019 by becoming the first Emirati to venture into space, while Sultan Al Neyadi broke new ground in March 2023 when chosen to be the first Arab astronaut to carry out a long-duration journey through space.
The UAE signed up with Nasa to contribute a key component of the US-led Gateway, a Moon-orbiting station, in exchange for sending an Emirati to the station.
That agreement, however, only guarantees the country access to the station and a separate deal would have to be made for landing an Emirati to the lunar surface.
SpaceX and Blue Origin are developing landing vehicles that would transport humans to the surface from the Gateway station.
First the Moon, then Mars
Mr Al Marri, who was speaking on the Geotechnology and Police Forum panel by the Atlantic Council, said Mars was the “overall objective” for going to the Moon.
“The global exploration road map is going towards exploring Mars, eventually having humans there and sample return. And we, of course, with our Mars 2117 programme, that's what we're looking at,” he said.
“However, to achieve those objectives, we can do a lot around the Moon, and we think the Moon is key. This is why most of our missions, I would say 70 per cent of them, focus on missions around the Moon.”
The UAE had announced Mars 2117 in 2017, an ambitious project that aims to form a human settlement on the Red Planet within 100 years.
Space industry trends could be shifting towards Mars instead of a heavy focus on the Moon, with billionaire Elon Musk campaigning to make humans “a multiplanetary species”.
He said last month on social media platform X, which he owns, that the “Moon was a distraction” and that “we are going straight to Mars”.
His campaigning was echoed in US President Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, in which he said that he wants to see an American flag on the Red Planet.
Mr Al Marri said that the space centre “can do both” – missions to the Moon and Mars.
“The Moon is very important – it’s closer, it's a bit easier to get to. It's somewhere where a lot of testing can happen, and then that can then shift and go towards Mars.
“We can work on both at the same time. In the more immediate next five years, we're focusing on Moon and then Mars will, of course, be part of that, because whatever you're developing for the Moon can then go and shift there.”
Nasa is designing its Gateway in a way so that astronauts can head to Mars before making a stop at the Moon-orbiting station.
