{"id":5265,"date":"2025-05-26T12:47:26","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T04:47:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/firefly-aerospace-to-deliver-uaes-rashid-2-rover-to-moons-far-side-in-2026\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T12:47:26","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T04:47:26","slug":"firefly-aerospace-to-deliver-uaes-rashid-2-rover-to-moons-far-side-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/firefly-aerospace-to-deliver-uaes-rashid-2-rover-to-moons-far-side-in-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Firefly Aerospace to Deliver UAE\u2019s Rashid 2 Rover to Moon\u2019s Far Side in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" itemprop=\"image\" itemscope=\"\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageObject\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/cover5263_638838321612082872.png\" width=\"712\" height=\"378\" alt=\"Firefly Aerospace to Deliver UAE\u2019s Rashid 2 Rover to Moon\u2019s Far Side in 2026\" class=\"imageload removeImageattr\" data-original=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/cover5263_638838321612082872.png\" style=\"opacity: 0;\"><meta itemprop=\"url\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.satnow.com\/news\/cover5263_638838321612082872.png\"><meta itemprop=\"width\" content=\"712\"><meta itemprop=\"height\" content=\"378\"><\/p>\n<p>Firefly Aerospace, the leader in end-to-end responsive space services, announced a new agreement with the United Arab Emirates\u2019 Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) to deliver the Emirates Lunar Mission\u2019s Rashid 2 Rover to the far side of the Moon on Firefly\u2019s Blue Ghost lander. The Rashid 2 Rover will join Firefly\u2019s second lunar mission in 2026, in addition to payloads from Australia, the European Space Agency, and NASA as part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)&nbsp;initiative.<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cOn the heels of&nbsp;<\/em><em>Firefly<\/em><em>\u2019s flawless Moon landing and operations, our team is looking forward to collaborating with the UAE and further expanding our representation of Artemis Accords nations on this groundbreaking mission to the far side of the Moon,\u201d said <strong>Jason Kim, CEO of Firefly Aerospace.<\/strong> \u201cWe\u2019re honored to support the international space community with our versatile&nbsp;<\/em><em>Blue Ghost lander<\/em><em>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<\/em><em>Elytra<\/em><em>&nbsp;spacecraft that can stack together to provide unique access to both lunar orbit and the lunar surface.\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The Rashid 2 Rover will demonstrate lunar surface mobility on the far side of the Moon and utilize various materials on its wheels to evaluate their durability when exposed to lunar dust. The data collected will help guide the development of future lunar technologies, such as spacesuits, habitats, and other critical infrastructure. Utilizing multiple cameras and probes, the rover will also study the Moon\u2019s plasma, geology, and thermal conditions in support of future in-situ resource utilization.<\/p>\n<div class=\"widget-layout related-content-also-read-box my-3\">\n<h4 class=\"mb-0\">Also Read: What are the the Different Types of Launch Vehicles used in Space?<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<p><em>\u201cThe strategic agreement signed with Firefly Aerospace marks a significant advancement in the UAE\u2019s growing role in shaping the future of lunar exploration,\u201d said <strong>H.E. Salem Humaid AlMarri, Director General of MBRSC<\/strong>. &#8220;Through the Emirates Lunar Mission\u2019s&nbsp;<\/em><em>Rashid 2 Rover<\/em><em>, the UAE will become one of the few nations to explore the far side of the Moon. The mission will deliver valuable scientific data on the lunar surface, plasma environment, and dust behavior, contributing to global knowledge and supporting future lunar infrastructure development. As we prepare for this historic milestone, we remain dedicated to expanding the UAE\u2019s contributions to humanity\u2019s long-term presence in space.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>During Blue Ghost Mission 2 operations, Firefly\u2019s Elytra vehicle&nbsp;will first deploy the Blue Ghost lander and the European Space Agency\u2019s Lunar Pathfinder satellite in lunar orbit. Blue Ghost will then touch down on the far side of the Moon to deliver the UAE\u2019s Rashid 2 Rover, Australia\u2019s Fleet Space SPIDER payload, and NASA\u2019s LuSEE-Night radio telescope and User Terminal. Elytra will remain in lunar orbit to provide long-haul communications and enable radio frequency calibration services for LuSEE-Night.<\/p>\n<p>The payloads flying on this international mission will advance the growing lunar ecosystem by searching for lunar resources, enhancing surface mobility on the Moon, improving lunar communications, and uncovering new insights about the origins of the universe.<\/p>\n<p>Firefly has already begun qualifying and assembling flight hardware for Blue Ghost Mission 2, which will follow Firefly\u2019s first lunar mission that completed the first fully successful commercial Moon landing on March 2 and completed 14 days of surface operations on March 16, marking the longest commercial operations on the Moon to date.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Firefly Aerospace, the leader in end-to-end responsive space services, announced a new agreement with the United Arab Emirates\u2019 Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) to deliver the Emirates Lunar Mission\u2019s Rashid 2 Rover to the far side of the Moon on Firefly\u2019s Blue Ghost lander. The Rashid 2 Rover will join Firefly\u2019s second lunar mission [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[39,25,20],"class_list":["post-5265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-aerospace","tag-launch","tag-satellite"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5265\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}