Dubai. December 4th. INTERFAX - France and the United Arab Emirates have signed an agreement on the development of spacecraft for missions on the moon, the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), responsible for the UAE lunar program, said.
"In the presence of Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the UAE Armed Forces, and French President Emmanuel Macron, an agreement of intent was signed between MBRSC and the National Space Research Center (CNES, the French State Space Agency - IF) on the development of spacecraft for lunar missions," the center said in a tweet.
It notes that the agreement was signed by the Director General of the center Salem Al-Marri and the head of CNES Philippe Baptiste to strengthen cooperation between the two countries in the exploration of the Moon through the development of joint spacecraft.
In September 2020, the Emir of Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, announced the UAE's plans to deliver the Rashid rover to the Moon in 2024 to explore its surface.
"It will be a lunar rover built in the UAE. It will reach the surface of the Moon in 2024, and we will talk about areas that have not been studied by other research vehicles," he wrote on Twitter.
