Left Behind By Russia, NASA Finally Supported By The UAE For The Moon Station Building Mission

Lunar Gateway (photo: dock. NASA)

JAKARTA - United Arab Emirates (UAE) is reportedly in discussions with NASA to participate in building the space station orbiting the Moon, the Lunar Gateway under the Artemis program.

A report from The National recently stated that the UAE is in discussions with NASA to provide an unlock facility for the Lunar Gateway. The small country in the Middle East has collaborated with Boeing in terms of design.

Airlock is the first element of the small station to fly in a halo orbit around the Moon, likely to be launched on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket by the end of 2024 or 2025. Halo orbit is a rare road around the Moon

Humans will not stay at the Lunar Gateway, such as the International Space Station (ISS), but will live in it periodically. Airlocks will facilitate spacewalks.

The UAE has a huge interest in space exploration. In June 2020, through a partnership with the University of Coloradotur, the UAE space program sent a "Hope" vehicle to Mars to study the atmosphere of the Red Planet.

Launching ArsTechnica, Wednesday, December 14, the UAE government said the purpose of the program was to inspire its young generation to explore science, technology, engineering, and medicine.

Initially, NASA collaborated with Russia in providing unlock facilities for the Lunar Gateway, but in 2020, when NASA began formulating its plans more concretely for lunar exploration, Russia began to withdraw.

By the time Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, it had turned around to cooperate with China in the construction of the International Moon Research Station. This is a parallel effort for NASA's Artemis program, which invites countries to join China and Russia to cooperate in lunar exploration.

While Russia is away from NASA, nearly two dozen countries have signed multilateral agreements to join NASA's Artemiscords, including the UAE.

Through its partnership in the Artemis Records, the UAE plans to send astronauts to the Lunar Gateway later this decade, and possibly to the Moon's surface in the 2030s.