The Mohammed bin Rashid Center for Accelerated Research, the think tank of the Dubai Future Foundation, has announced 36 funded projects for its first challenge, the MBR Space Settlement Challenge aimed at establishing space technology as a key economic sector in the UAE.
The funded projects were drawn from 260 research proposals from over 200 universities in 55 countries around the globe.
According to the centre, the selection process was powered through a crowdfunding platform called Guanna to ensure transparency, interaction, participation and stakeholder governance.
“We are happy with the results of the challenge and the caliber of participations,” said Dubai Future Foundation CEO Khalfan Belhoul. “We anticipate that the funded researches will have positive impact not only on residents of the UAE but on human kind and on the global race to space.”
Belhoul added that he believes the challenge will support the UAE Mars City and Mars 2117 projects.
The 36 funded projects include some from universities in the United States, Poland, the UK, and Italy and deal with a variety of topics, ranging from mushrooms on Mars to the study of possible landing sites on the planet.
The challenge was originally launched at the World Government Summit in February.
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