Arab Emirates Plan a Mars Mission

The United Arab Emirates have announced that they plan to send an unmanned craft to Mars by 2021, marking the birth of a new space program.

When some countries enter the space race, they start small, launching satellites and piggybacking off NASA or Russia to the International Space Station (ISS). Canada, whose space program is relatively new, has even turned its focuses towards commercial endeavors, with the Canadian Space Agency not likely to even send an astronaut to the ISS again until 2019 or 2020.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) however, has set a surprisingly ambitious goal for its entry into the space race.

According to UAE President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, a space program has formed to coordinate a growing space-technology sector in the Arab world, and will focus the nation's work towards sending an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021.

"The UAE Mars probe represents the Islamic world's entry into the era of space exploration. We will prove that we are capable of delivering new scientific contributions to humanity," he said in an announcement, as reported by the Arab News Agency (WAM).

According to a UAE statement, the nation has already invested $5.4 billion in satellite ventures for private means, but in doing so, its space-technologies field has begun to grow. To promote an international industry aside from its oil supplies, the UAE now aims to push its space technologies sector.

"We chose the epic challenge of reaching Mars because epic challenges inspire us and motivate us. The moment we stop taking on such challenges is the moment we stop moving forward," Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum added.

If nothing falls through, the UAE probe will launch on the 50th anniversary of the UAE's formation, and will start a nine-month journey over 60 million kilometers (~37.3 million miles) to the Red Planet.