The UAE is set to end Eid in the best way possible! The country’s Rashid Rover is set to land on the moon right after the four-day long weekend for Eid Al Fitr. The HAKUTO-R Mission 1 Lunar Lander – which is carrying the Rashid Rover to the lunar surface, is expected to land on the moon on 25 April 2023.
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what is the rashid rover?
The Rashid Rover, named after the late Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum, former Ruler of Dubai, is the first lunar spacecraft built by an Arab country. The lander has traveled more than 1.376 million kilometers into deep space since it was released from the rocket, making it the farthest privately-funded, commercially operated spacecraft to do so.
when will the landing take place?
The landing is scheduled to occur at 4.40pm (UTC), which is approximately 8.40pm UAE time, according to Japan-based ispace. The Mission 1 lander is known to be orbiting the Moon as of April 12, 2023, in an elliptical orbit at a height of between 100km and 2,300km.
“At approximately 3.40 pm (7.40 pm UAE time) on April 25, 2023, the lander is scheduled to begin the landing sequence from the 100 km altitude orbit. During the sequence, the lander will perform a braking burn, firing its main propulsion system to decelerate from orbit. Utilising a series of pre-set commands, the lander will … reduce velocity in order to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. The process will take approximately one hour,” said ispace.
The landing date may change depending on which of three alternative landing sites is chosen. Depending on the operational status, alternative landing dates include April 26, May 1, and May 3.
Last month, the lander entered lunar orbit. After entering orbit, the lander’s onboard camera photographed and transmitted images of the Moon on March 26. The image was shot from an altitude of about 2,000 km from the Moon. According to ispace the image features the moon’s eastern rim and craters Petavius, Vendelinus, and Langrenus.
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Takeshi Hakamada, founder and CEO of ispace said: “”To all of our supporters and everyone who has been looking forward to the day when we will land on the Moon, I am pleased to announce the scheduled landing date for Mission 1. What we have accomplished so far is already a great achievement, and we are already applying lessons learned from this flight to our future missions. I would like to once again express my heartfelt thanks to those who have worked so hard on this mission, including the engineers who are carrying out the long-term operations since our launch back in December. The stage is set. I am looking forward to witnessing this historic day, marking the beginning of a new era of commercial lunar missions.”
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what happens after rashid rover lands on the moon?
Rashid Rover is currently progressing toward completing the third benchmark: The Arrival Phase. The landing takes place in three phases- entry, descent, and landing. The lander will need to land on the lunar surface in order to stay on course for a particular location on the Moon, making this the most challenging of all the missions.
This will then be followed by Deployment, Commissioning and Drive-off phase where the collection of data and instrument commissioning will commence. Following this is the Nominal Surface Operations phase, which is the mission itself. The Rashid rover will continuously collect images and conduct surface research for 10 to 12 days.
After the lunar day, the rover goes into hibernation and then decommissioning as it gets ready for the lunar night. All captured data is downloaded when the secondary communication is engaged. The likelihood of the rover restarting is remote. However, the mission will be extended if the rover is activated after the lunar night.
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