Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed al-Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), unveiled a plan to establish the first inhabitable human settlement in Mars by 2117. The “Hope” spacecraft is set to arrive there in 2021 to coincide with UAE’s 50th anniversary. Al-Maktoum noted that the UAE is among the top nine countries that invest in the space sciences. An Emirati team of engineers, scientists and researchers has already set up a concept for the first robot built human city on Mars.
In 2015, the UAE announced its Mars Probe mission which hopes to launch the Arab world’s first spacecraft to the Red Planet in 2021. A $27 million Space Research Center was announced the same year. The country’s space sector has invested $5.5 billion in space, including a number of satellites developed and launched by foreign countries.