The first lunar rover in the United Arab Emirates was launched aboard a Japanese private lunar lander

CTOnews.com, December 11 (Xinhua)-- the Rashid rover in the United Arab Emirates has been successfully launched and will begin a five-month mission to the moon.

On December 11 local time, a private Japanese lunar lander, Hakuto-R, carrying a United Arab Emirates lunar rover and other payloads, was launched from the Space Force Base at Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and developed by Japan's ispace company.

▲ Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched Hakuto-R if all goes according to plan, Hakuto-R will make a soft landing on the moon next spring, the first landing on the moon by a Japanese-made spacecraft.

CTOnews.com learned that the Hakuto-R lander is expected to land in Atlas crater on the southeastern edge of lunar Mare Frigoris in April 2023. The most eye-catching payload is a 10-kilogram lunar rover called Rashid rover, the first lunar rover in the history of the United Arab Emirates.

Concept map of ▲ Hakuto-R landing on the moon if Rashid rover can successfully reach the moon, the Rashid rover will use a camera to take pictures and carry out a series of environmental explorations.

On the other hand, the Japanese company ispace plans to launch another lander to the moon in 2024 and a third after 2025. After 2025, ispace's goal is to launch missions to the lunar surface twice a year, provide facilities for various payloads, and help develop lunar cutting-edge technology. If the landing is successful, Japan will become the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the moon after the United States, the Soviet Union and China.