All set to embark on its historic mission to the Moon, the UAE-built Rashid Rover, aboard the Japanese lunar lander, has been integrated into a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

On November 30, at 12.39 pm UAE time, SpaceX will launch the Hakuto-R Mission 1 lander from the Launch Complex 40 pad at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. 

The Rashid rover, named in honor of the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, the former Ruler of Dubai, is among the several governments and commercial payloads aboard the lander, scheduled to land on the Moon at the end of April 2023.

The 10 kg rover will explore the terrain for one lunar day, collecting scientific data and pictures, studying the properties of lunar soil, the petrography and geology of the Moon, dust movement, and more.

Being UAE’s first Moon mission, the Rashid rover has been built by engineers from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre belonging to a core team of 11 who’ve worked on the mission’s development since 2017.

The Rashid Rover’s primary landing location is the Atlas Crater on the southern side of Mare Frigoris, a site that lies on the far north side of the Moon and has never been explored before.

On successful landing, the UAE will become the fourth country to touchdown on the Moon.