UAE to create space agency, send unmanned probe to Mars

Oil-rich United Arab Emirates announced Wednesday it will create a space agency with the aim of sending the first Arab unmanned probe to Mars by 2021. "The UAE has entered the space race with a project to send an unmanned probe to Mars by 2021 in the Arab world's first mission to another planet," said an Emiratis government statement. It added that a UAE Space Agency is to be created to drive the project. The statement said UAE investments in space technologies have already topped 20 billion dirhams ($5.44 billion).