Dubai: Emirati personnel will be trained to work on the UAE Space Agency and Mars probe, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said on Saturday.
Shaikh Mohammad on Saturday chaired the first meeting of the task force formed to implement the two projects.
Government bodies and institutions have been directed to support the team in its efforts to fulfil the mission.
Shaikh Mohammad yesterday discussed with the team the work plan on the establishment of the UAE Space agency with regard to organisational, legislative and administrative aspects.
He reviewed the strategic framework for the Mars probe’s project and the most important phases of work over the years leading up to 2021 when the Mars probe will be launched.
“Our priority will be on focusing on development of specialised and well-trained Emirati cadres in space science and technology, as Emiratis will be responsible for carrying out the two space projects,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
Technical challenges
Shaikh Mohammad and the team reviewed the steps to launch the Mars probe, including major technical challenges and the best time to launch a probe.
He instructed the task force to examine previous successful and unsuccessful experiments, and to work with international research institutes. “The next seven years will witness the UAE’s entry into the international space sector in which it will compete with other major countries to discover outer space. We will prove that we are capable of delivering new scientific contributions to humanity,” Shaikh Mohammad said.
Shaikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, other ministers and senior officials were present at the meeting.
The UAE Mars probe represents the Islamic world’s entry into the era of space exploration.
Mission to Mars
The UAE recently announced that it would enter the international space race to discover outer space through the announcement made by President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed regarding the setting up of the UAE Space Agency.
The project entails sending an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 in the Arab world’s first mission to another planet.
A new UAE Space Agency will be created to coordinate the UAE’s space technology sector and supervise the mission.
The UAE is one of only nine countries with space programmes to explore the Red Planet. The Mars probe’s nine-month and more than 60 million kilometre journey will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the UAE’s formation.
