Emirates Lunar Mission

The Emirates Lunar Mission is the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre's continuing programme to design and build a series of Rashid rovers for lunar surface exploration. Successive rovers target different locations and science objectives while developing Emirati capabilities in spacecraft engineering, surface mobility and planetary investigation. The rovers are named after Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum. For Rashid 2, MBRSC identifies investigations of the lunar surface's geological and thermal properties, dust and surface-altering processes. Other objectives include studying electrical charging and the electron sheath near the surface, and testing how materials and mobility systems behave in lunar conditions. MBRSC leads an international research team developing a lightweight science package to meet the rover's engineering and scientific requirements. The programme links surface science with practical experience needed for later robotic and human exploration.