The South African National Space Agency (Sansa) has signed an agreement with the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) to support the Emirates Lunar Mission (ELM), which will use Sansa's Hartebeeshoek Ground Station (HBK) to establish direct communications between the Rashid Rover and the ELM Control Centre at MBRSC, located in the United Arab Emirates, after the rover lands on the Moon's surface.

The Rashid Rover lifted off aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, in the US, on December 11, as a payload on the iSpace Hakuto-R M1 mission.

The ELM is expected to travel about five months before landing on the lunar surface. While the rover is en route to the lunar surface, the MBRSC engineering team will visit South Africa to collaborate with the Sansa engineering team in installing and testing specialised equipment for the mission at HBK.

“Lunar missions are complex, replete with daunting challenges and little to no room for error. Against this backdrop, we are approaching the planned support activities meticulously,” said Sansa acting commercial services executive Tiaan Strydom.

“We have made tremendous progress on the mission with the help of our partners. The MBRSC team is excited to collaborate with the Sansa team and complete the mission successfully,” said MBRSC ELM director Dr Hamad Almarzooqi.

Sansa, as one of the supporting ground stations, will commission two antennae to track and communicate with the spacecraft. A 12 m S-band antenna will be used for uplink transmissions, while a 26 m parabolic antenna will be commissioned for down link transmissions.

“The ELM is special to Sansa because it is a historic mission of the United Arab Emirates. We also see it as a build-up to supporting manned Moon missions, which are now a strategic focus for many global space industry players,” Strydom added.