Pictures: UAE's Rashid Rover's journey to the Moon

UAE’s Rashid Rover lifted off to the Moon on Sunday at 11.38am (UAE time) aboard a Japanese-made lunar lander.

The Rover was sent to space on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, USA.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, were at the Mission Control Centre inside the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre to witness the historic launch of Rashid Rover.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed and Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed witnessing the historic launch of Rashid Rover at the Mission Control Centre inside the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload including two lunar rovers from Japan and the UAE (Rashid Rover), lifts off from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida., on Sunday, December 11, 2022.

Staff at work at the Mission Control Room at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai to monitor the live streaming of the launch of Rashid Rover from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, US.

Officials of ispace Inc's HAKUTO-R mission look at live broadcasting of the launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket for ispace at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Tokyo, on Sunday December 11, 2022.

The Japanese-made lunar lander carrying Rashid Rover and other payload to the Moon will take a low-energy route to the Moon rather than a direct approach. This means the landing on the Moon will take about five months after launch, in April 2023.

Dr Hamad Al Marzooqi, project manager of Emirates Lunar Mission at MBRSC, told Gulf News the rationale for the fuel-saving but long route. He said: “The main factor is the cost of the mission. The cost comes from the volume and mass of the spacecraft. In order to reach to the moon within six days – which is the shortest path – you would need to burn a lot of fuel which means that you need a big tank and a big propulsion system to do that.”

The mission has gone past the first stage and the rocket’s upper stage will fire its engine to reach a low-altitude parking orbit, before sending the Hakuto-R lander that is carrying Rashid Rover on a speedy trajectory carrying it far away from Earth and onwards to the Moon.

Dimitra Atri, astrophysicist at New York University in Abu Dhabi, praised the UAE and its burgeoning space programme. He told Gulf News: “Planetary exploration using rovers is technically challenging and the fact that Rashid Rover was built in the UAE demonstrates the capabilities and ambitions of a country with a very young but rapidly growing space program. If successful, the UAE, along with Japan will become the fourth country in space exploration history to successfully land on the Moon after the United States, former Soviet Union and China."

Engineers at MBRSC are monitoring the health of Rashid Rover which is inside stored inside Japanese-made lunar lander Hakuto-R M1 (mission 1).

No one is more excited for the launch than the group of Emirati engineers who built the Rashid Rover from scratch with their own hands, says Abdulla AlShehhi, Rover Mechanical Engineering Lead.

Staff at work at the Mission Control Room at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai to monitor the live streaming of the launch of Rashid Rover from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, US.

Staff at work at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai on the Rashid Rover launch day.

Staff at work at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai on the Rashid Rover launch day.