Emirates Lunar Mission: MBRSC completes tests on Rashid rover before launch in November

The Emirates Lunar Mission (ELM) is one step closer to its launch pad rollout and liftoff, as Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre’s (MBRSC) Rashid rover has officially cleared all the required tests for its space journey and subsequent mission.

Over the last four months, the rover was subjected to a series of rigorous internal and external reviews. The reviews were designed to test out every one of the multitudes of systems and subsystems of the rover during the launch, cruise and descent stages.

Earlier this year, the ELM rover completed the assembly and first set of full functional tests of the flight model in the laboratories of MBRSC. This phase of testing included assessments of all the functionality of the hardware and software within the possible on-surface (lunar) scenarios.

This phase also included a heavy vibration test of the model at the EDGE’s Electro-Optics Centre of Excellence (EOCE) laboratories based in Abu Dhabi.

Second phase highlights

In the second phase, the Rashid rover completed a series of environmental tests at Toulouse, France. This included two sections of the evaluation: the first was the final thermal and vacuum tests within the Airbus facility, in which the Rover was heated and cooled to simulate the pressures and temperatures of its journey through space and on the moon’s surface.

The second and last section of the environmental tests included rigorous vibration and shock checks of the flight model at the CNES Labs. For this, the rover was shaken on a vibration table simulating the environment the rover will encounter during the launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as well as be subjected to the same shocks it will experience decelerating in the lunar atmosphere, the intense impact of deployment and touchdown.

The tests campaign concluded in Germany with the final phase of checks on the interfaces with the ispace lander that will safely deliver the rover to the Moon’s surface.

Read: UAE partners with Japan for mission to send ‘Rashid’ rover to the moon

The Emirates Lunar Mission’s team completed the environmental tests on the flight model of the Rashid Rover including thermal vacuum test alongside vibration and shock test, confirming the readiness of the rover for the first Emirati mission to the surface of the Moon. pic.twitter.com/GXqOiuV3hP

— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) October 12, 2022

This phase also included instrument alignment checks, such as imaging systems, and a final functional test of the integrated system following the environmental campaign.

Salem AlMarri, director general of MBRSC, congratulated the ELM team that worked to get the rover ready for the launch. “The lunar mission will engineer a new scientific reality for Emiratis and pave the way for more space exploration missions by MBRSC,” he said.

Dr Hamad AlMarzooqi, project manager of the Emirates Lunar Mission, said, “MBRSC can’t wait to see Rashid rover begin its long-awaited flight to the moon. We are now all cleared and ready for the next step, which is the launch vehicle integration process, which is the final stage of our lunar mission before launch.

“The science and technology of this mission are going to help us address major questions about the geologic and surface science of the moon that we’ve been working on for years, and we’re excited to share our journey with the world.”

The Rashid rover is now ready for the final integration process with the launch vehicle before its launch window of November 9–15, 2022. The primary goal of the mission is to study the moon’s plasma and to provide answers about moon dust, the lunar surface, mobility on the moon’s surface, and how different surfaces interact with lunar particles.