"We do a lot of science experiments with Roscosmos and also with NASA on the analog missions to make sure that we can take humans to live on Mars," AlGhaferi said at the NASA Kennedy Center in Florida. "Another thing we are doing is establishing international cooperation on an organizational level, and looking for more partners to know and to work with in that regard."
They want to take it step by step, he added, but with the long-term goal in sight of eventually reaching and inhabiting Mars, he added.
"Maybe we will not be alive to do to see that happen," AlGhaferi said. "But we have to make sure that what we give to the next generation is something useful they can benefit from."
AlGhaferi also said they are also focusing on launching the first rover that will hopefully land on the Moon at the end of April and then beyond.
Mars rover is a motor vehicle designed to drive on the Mars surface. Rovers have advantages over landers - as they travel and examine more territory. The European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos were planning to have a joint robotic mission to Mars in 2022 but the launch was scrapped and ESA discontinued its cooperation following the crisis in Ukraine.
MBRSC is also building a project to simulate life on the Red Planet in the Metaverse as part of its long-term objective to build a colony on Mars. Its plan is to complete a first settlement by 2039 and Commencement of the Planetary Government Summit by the end of 2117. The city is meant to create a real-life situation of the new life. UAE projects first landing on Mars by 2037.
UAE astronaut Sultan Alneyadi was among the four-member SpaceX Crew-6 mission that docked to the International Space Station (ISS) safely on Friday. Roscosmos cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev and NASA astronauts Stephen Bowen and Warren Hoburg are also aboard the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft that launched from Florida on Thursday on a mission expected to last six months.