US space agency NASA will work with United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency to put communications capability on the UAE’s Mars spacecraft “Hope” that will reach the Red Planet in 2021, an official said on Sunday.
Dr. Gale Allen, NASA’s Deputy Chief Scientist, in an interview to Gulf News said that the development is part of an “umbrella agreement” for collaboration between the two agencies.
“We want to work very closely with the UAE on any other missions going forward,” said Allen, who was in the UAE for the UN-UAE High Level Forum on “Space as a Driver for Socio-Economic Sustainable Development.”.
“For the Mars probe, one of thing that is very interesting to us is an opportunity to put communications capability on the probe. The important for us is that we really want to send humans to Mars in the 2030s,” she added.
“We are looking at, possibly at some point, putting better communications up there. If we could partner and leverage the UAE Mars probe, it is certainly going to be beneficial for us,” she added further.
On the agreement, she pointed out that it was an “umbrella agreement”, which meant that NASA wanted to collaborate in future space exploration missions.
“The Mars probe is the first step in collaborations, but we certainly look at this as a long-term partnership,” she noted.
The “Hope” spacecraft will travel more than 60 million km in its nine-month journey, coinciding with the UAE’s 50th anniversary in 2021. The mission will be supervised by the UAE Space Agency and developed by Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), with support from international partners.