United Arab Emirates' (UAE) Lunar Rover 'Rashid' is set to conquer the moon's surface after the scheduled landing in April 2023. This is the very first lunar rover that the Arabs have successfully launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on December 11. Rashid weighs only 10 kg due to the use of extremely lightweight aluminium and carbon fibre for its composition.
UAE's Lunar Rover has been thrust into space with the help of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and it rides on Hakuto-R, a Japanese Lunar lander specially crafted for such purposes by the robotic exploration company ispace. If the mission is successful, Rashid will be the first commercial spacecraft to achieve a controlled landing on the moon's surface.
The Lunar Rover weighs just 10 kg due to its exceptional aluminium, magnesium alloy and carbon fibre composition. We have witnessed time and again that aluminium is a crucial element for the space industry because of its lightweight and malleable properties. Rashid was built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre of the UAE's National Space Agency.
ST Advanced Composites (STAC), a component manufacturer in India has supplied the necessary composite parts that the rover specified. STAC also manufactures and provides precision parts for space agencies, government-run defence bodies and a small number of international space tech firms. They mainly work with metallic or carbon fibre, like aluminium honeycombs, polystyrene foam and natural fibre.
The Director of STAC, Dr Devendran Thirunavukarasu, stated: "In space missions, we are talking about materials that are at least ten times lighter and five times stronger than steel. We built the rover's structures using a magnesium alloy, carbon fibre and aluminium."
This enormous endeavour by UAE is but a successor to NASA's Artemis I launch, which finally took place on November 16, after two failed attempts. UAE's Lunar Rover is a four-wheeled specimen that is supposed to run on the moon's soil for two days (almost 28 days on Earth) and is designated for the Atlas Crater on the North Eastern surface of Earth's satellite.
During mid-year 2023, India will follow UAE to the moon with its third lunar mission. Before this, India successfully sent Mission Chandrayaan-1, an orbiter, and Chandrayaan-2, another orbiter with additional characteristics, like landing and roving. Unfortunately, Chandrayaan-2 failed to perform a soft landing on the moon's surface. Nevertheless, the Indian Space Agency, ISRO, is gradually moving towards the launch of Chandrayaan-3, leaving behind the anguished past.
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