The United Arab Emirates is celebrating today as the nation’s first planetary spacecraft, Hope, has entered orbit around Mars as scheduled. The UAE Space Agency tweeted: Congratulations to our leadership, our nation and the Emirates Mars Mission’s heroes that have achieved the impossible! The #HopeProbe’s historic journey to the Red Planet doubles our joy as it adds to a year of celebrations in the country to mark the Golden Jubilee […]

New batch of astronauts set to be announced in January 2021

DUBAI (Dubai Media Office PR) — The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) today announced that 14 candidates have qualified for the final phase of the second batch of the UAE Astronaut Programme, which aims to train and prepare a team of Emiratis for scientific space missions, as part of the UAE’s National Space Programme. The selected candidates will now undergo final interviews conducted by a committee consisting of specialists from MBRSC, including Emirati astronauts Hazzaa AlMansoori and Sultan AlNeyadi along with NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Jessica Meir.

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — NASA has signed a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to train UAE astronauts on International Space Station systems at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston later this year.

by Robert Sanders
UC Berkeley

At 2:58 p.m. PDT today (Sunday, July 19), the United Arab Emirates (UAE) successfully launched an interplanetary probe — the first by any country in the Arab world — thanks, in part, to science collaboration, training and instrument components provided by the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL).

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Hope spacecraft is on its way to Mars after a successful launch from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

A H-IIA rocket lifted off on Monday morning at 6:58 a.m. JST (5:58 p.m. EDT on Sunday). Hope separated from the second stage about an hour later and sent its first signal to controllers.

TEMPE, Ariz. (ASU PR) — The Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, is expected to lift off in July (exact launch date depends on weather conditions) on an H-IIA rocket from Tanegashima, Japan, and arrive at Mars in February 2021, where it will spend two years orbiting the red planet gathering crucial science data.

The launch of the United Arab Emirates’ Hope mission to Mars aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket has been reset from Monday morning. Liftoff is scheduled for 6:58:14 a.m. JST (9:58:14 p.m. GMT/5:58:14 p.m. EDT) from the Tanegashima Space Center. The Emirates Mars Mission was developed by the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in collaboration with a number of US research institutions, including the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at […]

BOULDER, Colo. (LASP PR) — The Emirates Mars Mission, the first interplanetary exploration undertaken by an Arab nation, is scheduled to launch this month on Mitsubishi H-IIA launch platform from Tanegashima, Japan and arrive at Mars in February 2021, coinciding with The Emirates’ 50^th anniversary as a nation. 

The mission is being carried out by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the UAE in collaboration with a number of US research institutions, including the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder.

UPDATE: The launch has been delayed due to weather. New launch date TBD.

A Japanese H-2A rocket is set to launch the first Arab mission to Mars from the Tanegashima Space Center on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Roscosmos PR) — Roscosmos State Corporation Director General Dmitry Rogozin took part in the state delegation headed by the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin during a state visit to Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. During the trip to Abu-Dhabi the Head of Roscosmos met with Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre management and the first UAE astronaut Hazzaa Al Mansoori, who has recently returned to Earth after […]