Work on the multi-nation Gateway Lunar Space Station, which will circle the moon and house an Emirati astronaut among others in the upcoming years, has begun in the United Arab Emirates. UAE space officials announced the same on Sunday in a series of posts on X.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) Director-General, Salem Al Marri, said on social media: "This week, we began work on the Gateway Lunar Space Station after our leadership announced the UAE's participation in the project." The project involves the UAE in addition to the European Space Agency (ESA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and NASA in the United States. Al Marri also provided images of the model for the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO), the first section of Lunar Gateway to be built.
The airlock on the lunar space station, which is essential to keeping astronauts safe, will be developed by the United Arab Emirates. For missions and personnel en route to the Moon from the Gateway station, this unit will function as a station gateway, acting as both an entry and an exit point.
The Airlock at the station will likewise be managed and run by the UAE. The dimensions of the Airlock are 10 metres in length, 4 metres in breadth, and 10 tonnes in weight. The station as a whole is 19 x 20 x 42 metres.
The station's minimum lifespan of 15 years, subject to extension, will allow it to serve as a space laboratory for a variety of scientific and technological studies. While the Emirates Airlock is slated to start by 2030, the initial components of Gateway are anticipated to launch by 2025.
