The UAE’s mission to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 will both benefit the country and all humanity. An immediate effect will be to develop knowledge within the UAE’s universities and research centres that will hugely expand the country’s capabilities in the very important industry of aerospace. In addition, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has been very clear at this weekend’s brainstorming session that any developments arising out of the programme are not going to be exclusive to the UAE, and will be shared with the world at large.
This kind of dramatic mission is very similar to US and the USSR campaigns to get a man into space, which was then followed by the determination to land man on the moon. These missions had direct benefits from the formal exploration and its discoveries, but they also had huge spinoff benefits for the industry and the economy at large, just as Shaikh Mohammad expects to in the UAE, as new sectors in the national economy benefit, including developments in telecommunications, satellites and data transfer. One of the most important parts of Shaikh Mohammad’s thoughts on the Mars project was how it reflects a work ethic developed in the UAE with thousands of successful and dedicated work teams working in the federal and local governments which are the secret of the UAE’s success. This focus on team work and dedicated effort is why the UAE enjoys a superior position today and how the Mars mission will work.
