Sometimes, the alliances built helps to determine the success of a mission. NASA sees this as a truth and allegedly closed a partnership deal with UAE for its Mars probe taking place in 2021.
Last Sunday a report confirmed that NASA allied with United Arab Emirates (UAE) to power up the communications aspect of UAE's Mars spacecraft set to reach the red planet by 2021. A NASA official during an interview with Gulf News said that the agreement confirms the collaboration between the two nations.
"We want to work very closely with the UAE on any other missions going forward," Dr. Gale Allen of NASA said in an interview. "Space as a Driver for Socio-Economic Sustainable Development," Allen added.
NASA is enthusiastic about the collaboration with UAE in putting up the communications capability of the spacecraft for the Mars probe. The agency believes that this would be an advantage for both parties and a good preparation for NASA's Journey to Mars mission in 2030.
"We are looking at, possibly at some point, putting better communications up there. If we could partner and leverage the UAE Mars probe, it is certainly going to be beneficial for us," Allen said in the same interview.
Aside from the current UAE communications capability deal, NASA revealed that the "umbrella agreement" signifies potential future collaborations for both the country's space exploration programs, according to Indian Express.
The current NASA - UAE collaboration will pave the way for future space mission conduction with the help of each other leading to a "long-term" partnership. This strong partnership may also usher in a more credible and more successful Mars probe in the near future.
Then communications capabilities will be installed to the Hope spacecraft. Hope will journey for more than 60 million kilometers in space that also coincides with UAE's 50th anniversary in the year 2021. This milestone makes the project more meaningful for both NASA and UAE.