You’ve read accurately the title of this article : the United Arab Emirates is planning to colonize the planet Mars in less than 100 years ! It is true that it seems very very far, especially when we think of the dates announced by Elon Musk, the boss of SpaceX. A lot of events may stop this plan before 2117. But on his side, Elon Musk is often making announcements that are ultimately unrealistic, so…
Here are three pieces of information proving that the Martian program of the United Arab Emirates must be considered seriously !
10 days in the ISS to learn everything
I learned from a reliable source that the United Arab Emirates has just selected the first two astronauts of their manned spaceflight program. I also know that one of them will make a short stay on the International Space Station in April 2019 (lucky you !).
An alliance with a space industry giant
If you are interested in the space sector, you know that the efforts of the Arab nations in terms of space are still shy. But they are very real ! Let’s look at Saudi Arabia, for example : they worked with China to develop a telecommunications relay satellite, designed to support the Chinese lunar mission Chang’s 4.
As China is currently the most dynamic nation in the space sector, you understood that Arab nations know how to choose the best foreign partners. They often tend to favor partnerships with powerful countries, that is to say those capable of providing them with rapid growth in exchange for significant funding.
An Arab orbiter in orbit of Mars as early as 2020
But they don’t stop there ! The United Arab Emirates go much further. Since 2014, we know that the country is working on a Martian mission that could take place in 2020. The Hope space probe will thus be the first interplanetary mission in the Arab world ! It is an orbiter that will embark several cameras and spectrometers to study in detail the atmosphere of the planet Mars. This very ambitious project is part of a very long-term vision of Martian colonization, called Mars 2117.
In the end, 2117 may be the only realistic time scale for the United Arab Emirates to develop such a project after successfully passing several intermediate steps. Lucidity and patience are rare qualities in the space sector. Isn’t it Elon ?
About The Guest Author
I’m Jonathan, a space lover since I was a child. I own the fromspacewithlove.com website and its communities on the social networks. We are thousands people interested in space news, space activities, space objects… Join us !