ABU DHABI: A local newspaper has said that NASA’s Lunar Gateway, humanity’s future Moon station, gains momentum with plans for assembly by the end of the decade, with the UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre playing a crucial role by developing the station’s airlock, a vital component that will offer a safe way in and out for its residents.
‘The UAE Space Agency’s involvement is unsurprising, given the country’s growing track record of technical achievements in space science. In recent years, these milestones have included sending two citizens into orbit, training more for future missions, successfully building and sending the Hope probe to Mars and developing the Rashid rover lunar lander,’ The National said in an editorial on Tuesday.
Sunday’s announcement confirms the country’s place as a consistent and valued player in the international space sector. It also ensures that the Emirates can be counted among the relatively small group of nations that are engaged in significant long-term space projects.
T
he paper added, “It is an exciting step forward for a project that could see humanity return to the Moon for the first time since 1972. Gateway is a crucial part of NASA’s Artemis programme, which aims to build a sustainable human presence there. It is envisioned that astronauts will use Gateway for Artemis missions, before descending to the lunar surface using landing modules currently being developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Such cooperation between national space agencies and the private sector, already seen in the multinational effort to establish and enhance the International Space Station, will be reflected in the UAE’s development of the Gateway airlock, a task that will be carried out by MBRSC in partnership with international companies.
This is a major opportunity to continue developing local scientific, technical and manufacturing talent and is an important part of the UAE’s continuing diversification away from an energy-based economy.
The airlock agreement, although important in its own right,
is also part of the region’s emerging space sector, which has come a long way since the launch of the first Arab satellite, Arabsat-1A, in 1985. A 2022 report from the SpaceTech Analytics think tank noted that the space sector in the Gulf ‘has already resulted in the emergence of companies and initiatives that have the potential to bring billion-dollar investment into the region’.
In addition, a new report from the Euroconsult agency this month claims that the Middle East’s space economy ‘which has tripled over the past decade to an estimated value of $25 billion in 2023′ could grow to $75 billion by 2032.
This trend seems certain to continue. A paper published in April last year by the Middle East Institute noted that as part of Gulf nations’ ‘clear priorities to diversify their economies across forward-looking technologies, the space business strongly aligns with the objectives of the GCC member states’.
‘In the meantime, the work of preparing more Emiratis to go into space continues. The UAE currently h
as four citizens in its astronaut corps, any of whom – as well as future members – could be chosen for Moon missions. Nora Al Matrooshi, the first Emirati woman to be selected as an astronaut, and Mohammed Al Mulla are expected to graduate from a NASA training programme this month and will become eligible for space missions. It is entirely possible that one day, they could enter the door of a lunar space station that was, like them, made in the UAE,’ concluded the Abu Dhabi-based daily.
Source: Emirates News Agency
GAZA: Several civilians were killed and others were injured tonight in Israeli strikes targeting the center of the Gaza Strip.
According to local sources, several civilians were killed and others were injured in an Israeli bombing that targeted a group of civilians in the town of Al-Zuwaida, in the central Strip.
The occupation warplanes also shelled a house near the girls’ junior high school in the al-Maghazi refugee camp, in the center of the Strip, resulting in several casualties.
Earlier, at least four civilians were killed in the said camp. Rescue teams were unable to evacuate their bodies due to the intensified Israeli military reinforcement at the entrance of the camp.
Several bodies and wounded arrived at the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital as a result of an Israeli strike that targeted a house in Deir al-Balah, in the central Strip.
The occupation Gun-firing drones attacked displaced persons sheltering in UNRWA-run schools west of Khan Yunis, as well as the vicinity of Nasser Hospital in the southern
Strip, and areas east of Nuseirat refugee camp, in the center of the Strip, injuring several people.
Israeli jets also bombed a mosque and the homes of several citizens in the southern part of Qizan an-Najjar village, south of Khan Yunis.
The occupation artillery continued to shell the al-Manara neighborhood, the Fakhari area, and several different areas in Khan Yunis, which led to the killing of two women in the Fakhari area.
A child in the Gaza European Hospital also succumbed to injuries sustained in an artillery shelling on the eastern parts of Khan Yunis yesterday, bringing the number of civilians killed in Khan Yunis to 13 in the last 24 hours.
Rescue teams and ambulance crews recovered the bodies of two people and several wounded from under the rubble of a house that was targeted by an Israeli airstrike in the town of Jabalia, north of the Strip.
Several civilians were also killed and others were injured in Israeli airstrikes targeting areas west of Gaza City and the Zeitoun neighborhood.
A provi
sional count of civilians killed in the Israeli aggression on Gaza since October 7th indicated that 23210 people were killed, over 70% of whom were children and women, and at least 23210 wounded. Over 7000 people were reported missing.
Source: Palestine news and Information Agency – WAFA