Dubai: The first Arab lunar landing mission is scheduled for tonight when the UAE’s Rashid Rover attempts to land on the Moon’s surface, creating yet another historic milestone for the country’s space sector.

The earliest targeted landing time for the HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander (HAKUTO-R M1), the lander spacecraft carrying the Rashid Rover, is at 16:40 UTC (8.40pm UAE time) tonight.

The Japanese lunar exploration company that built the lander, ispace, said the lander is scheduled to begin the landing sequence from its 100km-altitude orbit at around 15:40 UTC (7.40pm UAE time).

Live feed

MBRSC said on social media on today afternoon that it would begin the live coverage on its website from 8pm here, via the link: http://mbrsc.ae/live/

On December 11, 2022, the lander carrying the Emirati-built Moon explorer was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida, USA, beginning a journey that took the lander around 1.4 million kilometres into deep space and into the lunar orbit.

Mission parameters

Once landed successfully, the four-wheeled rover weighing 10kg will explore the characteristics of lunar soil, the petrography and geology of the Moon, dust movement, surface plasma conditions, and the Moon’s photoelectron sheath for about 12 days.

The ambitious feat of the Emirates Lunar Mission by MBRSC will make the UAE the first Arab country and only the fourth country in the world to land on the Moon — after the United States, the former Soviet Union and China.

The success rate of soft landing on the Moon is 50 per cent, with the lander derailing from its trajectory, communication loss, harsh landing due to environmental changes or lander faults as well as surface threats like craters and boulders being cited as the main challenges.