With NASA's quest to better study the Red Planet in 2021, Dr Gale Allen, NASA's Deputy Chief Scientist, has announced on Sunday that the US space agency will be teaming up with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Space Agency to put communications capability on the UAE's Mars spacecraft Hope. The partnership, as per Dr. Allen, is part of an "umbrella agreement" for collaboration between the two agencies.

NASA And UAE's Space Agency For 2021

According to the Indian Express, Allen, who was in the UAE for the UN-UAE High Level Forum on "Space as a Driver for Socio-Economic Sustainable Development" was quoted to have said that they are aiming to work very closely with the UAE on any other missions going forward. Moreover, Dr. Allen has also claimed that for the Mars probe, one of things that is very interesting for them is the fact that they will have the opportunity to put communications capability on the probe. What matters most for them, is that they would be able to send humans to Mars in the 2030s.

Dr. Allen has also highly emphasized that the Mars probe is the first step in their plan of collaborating with the space agency for a long-term partnership. Meanwhile, as per I4U News, in terms of what NASA authorities consider as "umbrella agreement," it was found that NASA has wanted to collaborate in future space exploration missions. The Hope spacecraft, as revealed by authorities, will have to travel more than 60 million km in its nine-month journey, which was found to also coincide with the UAE's 50th anniversary in 2021.

Ultimately, reports have revealed that the mission will be supervised by the UAE Space Agency and developed by Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), with support from international partners.