Dubai: The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai has announced it has started working on Rashid 2 rover to reach the moon.

It follows the loss of communication with the Japanese lander spacecraft carrying the first Rashid Rover moments before touch down on the moon on Tuesday.

The Centre has pledged that the team will continue to live by the words of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and under the guidance of his leadership.

The Rashid Rover, integrated into iSpace’s HAKUTO-R lander, successfully lifted off atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on 11th December at 11:38 UAE time from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force, Florida. The ELM marked the first Emirati lunar mission, making the UAE the first Arab country to ascend toward the lunar surface.

Rashid Rover was built to traverse and explore the Moon’s surface with a unique configuration. Weighing about 10 kilograms, the Rover is around 80 centimetres high, around 53.5 centimetres long, and close to 53.85 centimetres wide.

MBRSC partnered with 10 international and four UAE-based entities for the Emirates Lunar Mission’s science programme. In collaboration with close to 40 scientists and researchers, MBRSC developed the main instruments, the optical cameras, microscopic imager and Langmuir probe on board the Rashid Rover.