The United Arab Emirates (UAE) unveiled the framework for their first space agency, a move that certainly correlates to the planned mission to Mars in 2020.
According to GulfNews.com, the UAE announced the Strategic Framework for the Space Agency at a ceremony on Monday in Abu Dhabi. The UAE last year revealed a plan to send a space probe called Hope to Mars in 2020.
"The establishment of a fully-fledged space sector in the UAE, with all necessary human resources, infrastructure and scientific research, is a primary national objective. It requires everyone involved to work as one team to establish the UAE's leadership in this sector and to build advanced scientific capabilities in the space domain," His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said in a statement. "The Hope Probe and the UAE Space Agency are milestones for the development of the UAE."
The Space Research Center will be the first of its kind in the Middle East, as will be a graduate degree program in Advanced Space Science at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology and Orbital ATK Inc.
"The UAE's Hope Probe to Mars will not only advance human scientific knowledge and strengthen the UAE's technological capabilities; it will also provide inspiration to all the young people in the UAE and throughout the Arab world," Charles Elachi, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement.
