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Boeing ready to work closely with UAE on Mars mission

Dubai - Boeing was displaying their CST-100 Starliner capsule at the Dubai Airshow

Boeing hopes to work "closely with the UAE" in the country's future Mars-related activities, a senior member of the company told Khaleej Times.
John Elbon, vice-president of Boeing Space Exploration, said that they are slowly building their relationship with the country.
Boeing was displaying their CST-100 Starliner capsule at the Dubai Airshow, which is being developed in collaboration with Nasa's Commercial Crew Development Programme.
The spacecraft is designed to hold seven passengers and is meant for missions to low-Earth orbit and to the International Space Station.
"We're working closely with the UAE to build a relationship. We had a contest that we sponsored with them, called Genes in Space. That was the first step we did with UAE," Elbon said.
"So, we'd like to continue that and hopefully develop a relationship so we can be involved together with some of the Mars activities that are coming in the future."
Space technology was one of the main focus in this year's Dubai Airshow. Boeing's Starliner had a relatively large space for display at the Airshow, with pilots from the US Air Force who were doing a mock flight.
Starliner will also be able to carry up to four Nasa-sponsored crew members, who will carry out scientific research. The spacecraft can be reused up to 10 times with a six-month turnaround time.
"The biggest difference between this (Starliner) and others is that this being built by Boeing with Nasa a customer," Elbon said.
"Space vehicles has been built before but with Nasa building them with our support. So, this is more of a commercial activity. Nasa will pay us so much emission to take people up to the space station as a service."
Besides Boeing, the UAE also placed a focus on their space-related activities at the Dubai Airshow. Emirates Mars Mission, the UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre had separate stands at the event displayed their projects to visitors.
sarwat@khaleejtimes.com