Rashid rover 2: Dubai Ruler announces new Moon mission

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid sets out second attempt after first rover lost in suspected lander crash

Engineers from Japan's ispace watch a simulation of the real-time lunar landing. Moments later, they lost contact with the spacecraft as it hit the surface - and it is presumed damaged or destroyed. Photo: ispace

Spaceflight engineers in Dubai monitor the trajectory of the spacecraft carrying the Rashid rover as it attempts to land on the Moon. Getty

Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre engineers monitor the attempt to land on the Moon. Getty

A model of the Hakuto-R lander is displayed before a live stream of the lunar landing, at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo. AP

A photographer snaps models of the lander and lunar rover. AP

Takeshi Hakamada, founder and chief executive of ispace, attends the streamed event. AP

Members of the ispace team watch the live stream of the Haluto-R private lunar exploration programme in Tokyo. AP

The UAE will embark on a second attempt to land a rover on the Moon, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid said on Wednesday.

The Vice President and Ruler of Dubai said Rashid 2 would be developed and sent to space.

He declared the UAE's intention to reach the lunar surface during a visit to the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, where he met the team leading the country's mission.

The announcement came after Japan's Hakuto-R Mission 1 spacecraft, carrying the Rashid rover, probably crashed as it tried to land on the lunar surface Tuesday.

Sheikh Mohammed said Rashid 1 is on the surface of the moon "carrying the flag of the Emirates".

"We are a country founded on ambition," he said on Twitter.

"We are a country that has not stopped since December 2, 1971. It will not stop. It will not turn around. It will not set small goals for itself.

"Emiratis have proved their ability to develop advanced space projects and rapidly create a vibrant national space sector.

“The UAE built a space sector from scratch within just 10 years. The Rashid Rover mission was driven by the country’s ambitious vision for space exploration.”

Despite Tuesday's setback, the UAE "succeeded in raising the ceiling of our ambitions to reach the Moon", Sheikh Mohammed said.

"And we succeeded in creating a team of our young men and women capable of managing advanced space projects."

Both rovers are named after the late Sheikh Rashid, the founder of modern Dubai and Sheikh Mohammed's father.

Rashid 1 was the first mission under the UAE's home-grown Moon exploration programme, which took a team of 11 engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre six years to build. No date was set for a second attempt.

Sheikh Mohammed was joined on the space centre visit by Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Sheikh Hamdan said Sheikh Mohammed had "directed us to immediately start implementing the Rashid 2 project, a new attempt to land a rover on the Moon".

“As Sheikh Mohammed once said, 'the biggest risk is not to take any risk'," Sheikh Hamdan said.

"Risk is an integral part of any space mission, but that has never deterred us from exploring new frontiers of space.

"Our ambition knows no bounds, and we remain steadfast in our commitment to undertake groundbreaking missions that will establish the UAE as a leading space-faring nation."