The lander that is carrying the UAE’s Rashid rover is expected to attempt a lunar orbit insertion in late March.
Ispace, the company that built the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander, announced that the spacecraft has travelled about 1.376 million kilometres since being launched into space on December 11.
The lander is the first privately funded spacecraft to travel that far.
“We are pleased to announce that our Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander has entered the second phase of its mission,” ispace said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The lander is now on a trajectory to the Moon with a scheduled landing for the end of April 2023.”
A manoeuvre for a lunar orbit insertion will be carried out in late March.
If the lander manages to touch down successfully on the surface, it will become the first commercial lander to achieve such a feat.
However, a soft landing on the Moon is no easy task, with more than a third of missions failing to do so.
The Rashid rover is the first mission under the UAE's long-term Moon exploration programme.
The 10-kilogram exploration rover will study the geography of the lunar surface as well as lunar soil, or regolith.
Engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre have been working on the rover since 2017.
The UAE's mission will last one lunar day, or 14 Earth days.
The team also hope the rover can survive a lunar night — also 14 days — when temperatures plunge to minus 183°C.
Most Moon missions in the past have arrived at their destination in less than a week, but ispace has opted for a low-energy transfer route that helps save on fuel — this is why the journey will be five months long.
“The reason why we took this strategy is to reduce the mass of the spacecraft and that leads to a reduced cost of launch,” Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace, told The National.
“We can utilise the gravity of the Sun to accelerate our spacecraft without using propellant.”
Nasa’s Capstone mission — a miniature satellite that was launched in June — also took five months to reach lunar orbit.
It, too, used gravitational assistance from the Sun and then the Earth to propel itself towards the Moon.
South Korea’s first lunar probe, the Korean Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, took four months to reach the Moon’s orbit. It was launched in August and arrived in December.
Emirati engineers are already working on Rashid 2. China will help to launch the rover on its Chang’e-7 lunar south pole mission in 2026.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
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Other must-tries
Tomato and walnut salad
A lesson in simple, seasonal eating. Wedges of tomato, chunks of cucumber, thinly sliced red onion, coriander or parsley leaves, and perhaps some fresh dill are drizzled with a crushed walnut and garlic dressing. Do consider yourself warned: if you eat this salad in Georgia during the summer months, the tomatoes will be so ripe and flavourful that every tomato you eat from that day forth will taste lacklustre in comparison.
Badrijani nigvzit
A delicious vegetarian snack or starter. It consists of thinly sliced, fried then cooled aubergine smothered with a thick and creamy walnut sauce and folded or rolled. Take note, even though it seems like you should be able to pick these morsels up with your hands, they’re not as durable as they look. A knife and fork is the way to go.
Pkhali
This healthy little dish (a nice antidote to the khachapuri) is usually made with steamed then chopped cabbage, spinach, beetroot or green beans, combined with walnuts, garlic and herbs to make a vegetable pâté or paste. The mix is then often formed into rounds, chilled in the fridge and topped with pomegranate seeds before being served.
The specs: 2017 Dodge Ram 1500 Laramie Longhorn
Price, base / as tested: Dhxxx
Engine: 5.7L V8
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 395hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 556Nm @ 3,950rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 12.7L / 100km
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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Managing the separation process
- Choose your nursery carefully in the first place
- Relax – and hopefully your child will follow suit
- Inform the staff in advance of your child’s likes and dislikes.
- If you need some extra time to talk to the teachers, make an appointment a few days in advance, rather than attempting to chat on your child’s first day
- The longer you stay, the more upset your child will become. As difficult as it is, walk away. Say a proper goodbye and reassure your child that you will be back
- Be patient. Your child might love it one day and hate it the next
- Stick at it. Don’t give up after the first day or week. It takes time for children to settle into a new routine.And, finally, don’t feel guilty.
MATCH INFO
Real Madrid 2
Vinicius Junior (71') Mariano (90 2')
Barcelona 0
The biog
Favourite car: Ferrari
Likes the colour: Black
Best movie: Avatar
Academic qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in media production from the Higher Colleges of Technology and diploma in production from the New York Film Academy
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Types of fraud
Phishing: Fraudsters send an unsolicited email that appears to be from a financial institution or online retailer. The hoax email requests that you provide sensitive information, often by clicking on to a link leading to a fake website.
Smishing: The SMS equivalent of phishing. Fraudsters falsify the telephone number through “text spoofing,” so that it appears to be a genuine text from the bank.
Vishing: The telephone equivalent of phishing and smishing. Fraudsters may pose as bank staff, police or government officials. They may persuade the consumer to transfer money or divulge personal information.
SIM swap: Fraudsters duplicate the SIM of your mobile number without your knowledge or authorisation, allowing them to conduct financial transactions with your bank.
Identity theft: Someone illegally obtains your confidential information, through various ways, such as theft of your wallet, bank and utility bill statements, computer intrusion and social networks.
Prize scams: Fraudsters claiming to be authorised representatives from well-known organisations (such as Etisalat, du, Dubai Shopping Festival, Expo2020, Lulu Hypermarket etc) contact victims to tell them they have won a cash prize and request them to share confidential banking details to transfer the prize money.
* Nada El Sawy
The specs: 2018 Alfa Romeo Stelvio
Price, base: Dh198,300
Engine: 2.0L in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 280hp @ 5,250rpm
Torque: 400Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7L / 100km
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
