A top official in the United Arab Emirates says his country plans to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2024.
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Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who is also the ruler of Dubai, made the announcement on Twitter.
Sheikh Mohammed's announcement comes after the launch of a Mars probe earlier this year by the UAE, an oil-rich nation on the Arabian Peninsula.
"It will be an Emirati-made lunar rover that will land on the surface of the moon in 2024 in areas that have not been explored previously by human missions," Sheikh Mohammed wrote on Twitter.
He did not elaborate on the location that the UAE planned to explore, nor how they would launch the rover into space.
Sheikh Mohammed said the rover would be named 'Rashid', the name of his late father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
If successful in 2024, the UAE could become the fourth nation to land a spacecraft on the moon, after the US, the Soviet Union and China.
India has tried and failed to successfully land a spacecraft, as have Israel and Japan.
Australian Associated Press
