As part of its 2117 Mars project, the UAE is planning to build the first city on the planet in collaboration with specialized international organizations and scientific institutes.
The Mars 2117 Project was announced by His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, reported Gulf News.
As part of a 100-year national program, the UAE will set a plan to prepare national cadres that can achieve scientific breakthroughs to facilitate the transport of people to the Red Planet over the next decades, the report said.
The plan will involve scientific research programs to nurture national cadres specialized in space sciences at universities in the UAE. It will also entrench a passion for space in younger generations.
The announcement was reportedly made on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in the presence of representatives of 138 governments, six major international organizations, as well as leading international tech companies.
The new project will be associated with research themes featuring the exploration of transportation means, energy and food on mars. It will also try to find faster transportation methods for travelling to and from Mars, said the news portal.
A virtual presentation depicting a preliminary concept for the city on Mars was made during the announcement.
The scientific initiative will first be implemented by an Emirati scientific team, and will eventually expand to include international scientists and researchers that will run in parallel with the coordination of human research efforts in the field of exploring and inhabiting Mars, reported Gulf News.
Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid said that the UAE is ranked among the most important nine countries in the world that invest in space science, and our goal is to accelerate human researches in this field.
“Human ambitions have no limits, and whoever looks into the scientific breakthroughs in the current century believes that human abilities can realise the most important human dream,” he added.
“The new project is a seed that we are planting today, and we expect the next generations to reap its fruits,” Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid reportedly said.
Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed said that the short-term goal is to develop the capacities and skills of Emiratis. “The 2117 Mars initiative is a long-term project, which will first help develop our education, universities and research centres that will empower young Emiratis to enter all disciplines of scientific research fields,” Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed was quoted as saying.
In 2015, the UAE announced its Mars Probe mission, which will send the Arab world’s first spacecraft to the Red Planet in a scientific exploration mission that will land on planet in 2021, reported Gulf News.
