Urgent: sudden developments regarding the Emirati youth who got lost in space and a direct order to move
The Japanese company “ispace” failed to become the first private institution to land a vehicle on the surface of the moon, according to what it announced on Wednesday, while it is likely that the vehicle that was carrying the “Emirati explorer Rashid” to the surface of the moon was destroyed during its landing.
In turn, the "Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center", which adopted the first Arab project of its kind, issued a statement regarding the explorer Rashid carried on board the vehicle.
In a statement posted on its Facebook account, the center praised the great efforts made by the mission partner, iSpace, which spared no effort to achieve a successful landing on the moon.
The center added that it had successfully achieved the goal of designing and developing the explorer and launching it into the lunar orbit, which in itself is a very important achievement, despite the failure of the explorer Rashid and the other payloads on board the spacecraft to complete their missions on the planned approach.
The center thanked the National Center for Space Studies - France for their scientific and technical contribution throughout the mission period, and appreciated the contributions of all scientific and technical partners throughout the mission period and the contributions of all local and international partners.
The statement added that the Mohammed bin Rashid Center team has gained valuable scientific expertise and experiences from this mission, which will benefit from achieving more achievements in the field of space exploration, especially after it is closer than ever to landing on the moon.
Mohammed bin Rashid comments
In turn, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum indicated, through his official account on “Twitter”, that the mission of the vehicle carrying the “Explorer Rashid” did not succeed in landing on the surface of the moon, but the UAE succeeded - as he said - in raising the ceiling of his ambitions to reach the moon and in making a team. Young men and women are able to manage advanced space projects and build a space sector from scratch within 10 years.The ruler of Dubai boasted that the explorer Rashid carried the flag of the Emirates, and this, according to him, is the greatest evidence of our courage and our thinking outside the box, and our attempt to reach the moon.
Mohammed bin Rashid concluded by referring to the start of designing a new explorer and retrying: "From today, work will begin on Rashid 2...a new explorer...for a new attempt to reach the moon."
And he continued: “We are a country founded on ambition.. We are a country that has not stopped since December 2, 1971, and will not stop.. It will not turn around.. It will not set small goals for itself. The coming is more beautiful, greater, and bolder, God willing.”
Contact with explorer Rashid was lost
The Japanese start-up company, ispace, announced earlier that it had lost contact with the vehicle at the exact time of its landing.And this vehicle of the “Hakuto-R” program, which has been in the lunar orbit for a month, about 100 km above its surface, has begun its landing attempt with a fully automated process.
The Turkish newspaper “Daily Sabah” said in a report that in recent days everything seemed to be going as planned, but after the scheduled date for landing, that is, around 16:40 GMT on Tuesday, the company's ground teams tried in vain to connect with the vehicle. For about ten minutes.
"Although we do not believe that a landing is possible this time, we believe that this mission was of great importance, as it allowed the acquisition of a lot of data and experience," said the company's president and founder, Takeshi Hakamada.
And he considered, “The important thing is to use this knowledge and this example in the second mission and what follows.”
He pointed out that the company is preparing for two new missions to try to land on the moon, and that the failure of the current mission will not change anything in its projects.
The success of the mission was not originally guaranteed. In April 2019, the “Berecht” probe, which was manufactured by the Israeli company “SpaceIL”, crashed on the surface of the moon.
Only the United States, Russia and China have so far been able to land robots on the surface of the moon, 400,000 km from Earth. In 2019, India also tried to land its Vikram probe, but it was destroyed.
The Japanese vehicle, which measures two by two and a half meters, was launched in December from the American base, Cape Canaveral, on a SpaceX rocket.
It was carrying several lunar vehicles, including a Japanese scale model developed by the Japan Space Agency in collaboration with toy maker Takara Tomy.
Lunar explorer Rashid
It was carrying another lunar vehicle, the Emirati lunar explorer "Rashid", which was designed and built by the United Arab Emirates. And if the ten-kilogram "Rashid" had succeeded in landing, he would have carried out the first Arab mission on the moon.The “Hakuto” (“White Rabbit” in Japanese) project was one of five projects that reached the final stage of the international “Google Lunar Express” competition, for which no winner was announced, as no company was able to land a robot before the deadline (2018).
Two other companies, the American "Astrobotic" and "Intuitive Machines", are scheduled to launch later this year two vehicles that attempt to land on the moon.
The US agency seeks, through its "Artemis" program, to land astronauts again on the surface of the moon in the coming years, and to establish a base on it and build a space station in its orbit.
