‘Hope’: UAE’s 1st space mission to Mars launched from Japan

Taking a remarkable step forward with the hope of transforming the Arab Space industry, UAE launched its first interplanetary space mission, today sending a probe to Mars-‘HOPE’.

Along with the researchers and scientists at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, millions of people across the globe had their eyes glued to the television when ‘Hope’  was launched from Japan’s Tanegashima space center situated on an island off the southern coast of the country at 6.58 AM Japanese time in the morning on 20th July 2020.

The excitement and enthusiasm can be sensed in the words of Sarah al-Amiri when he said, it “an indescribable feeling” to see the probe blasting off.

To educate the new generation of researchers, scientists, and thinkers, the launching of this probe will act as a guiding light towards the development of mankind.

The accomplishment and success as said by Fahad Al Mehri, Executive Director of Space Sector, UAE  was not only about sending the probe to Mars but also letting the young qualified group of scientists put valuable five and a half million dedicated hours into this project.

Launched from the top of a Japanese H-IIA rocket, this probe is expected to enter Mars orbit by February 2021.

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The space mission whose plans were announced by the UAE government in 2014, was initially set to take place on 14th July but had to be delayed twice owing to bad weather.

The arrival time of Hope into the orbit of Mars after a journey of about seven months will coincide with the nation’s 50th anniversary.

Technical Details regarding Hope:

During the journey, the probe will travel 493 million kilometers at a speed of 121000 km per hour.

After disconnecting from the missile, the probe is expected to open its solar panel and turn towards the sun for recharging its batteries.

The probe will have to change its orientation from time to time so that it remains connected to the space center.

After reaching the orbit of Mars, the speed of the probe will slow down to 14,000 km per hour.

On reaching closer to the Red planet, the probe will collect data at 1000 GB with the help of its sensors and send data to Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center every 13-26 minutes.

The probation is estimated to take place for 1 month,  which is equivalent to 687 days on earth.

Designed to study the climatic conditions and atmosphere of the planet, the probe will take around 55 hours to complete one cycle around this red planet.

The observations that will be recorded by this probe will help in resolving many unanswered questions like why we are facing these climate changes on earth, what happened to the red planet, and help us from preventing the same happening here.

It will also provide answers to one of the most wondered question,’’ Could humans live on Mars?”

Most of the parts of the probe were fabricated in the UAE itself.

The uniquely designed probe also has a plate installed with the signatures of the leadership.

With an assigned budget of $200 million for the development and launch, the UAE government wanted the team to build the spacecraft instead of buying it.

The team partnered with numerous academic institutions in the United States including the University of Colorado at Boulder, Arizona State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. This allowed the UAE team to gain knowledge from them and build their spacecraft.

 

This ongoing quest to Mars now includes this mission as well apart from Tianwen-1 from China and Mars 2020 from the United States”.

Unlike the two other missions to the red planet, scheduled for this year, it will not land on the planet but instead, orbit it.

On Twitter, the UAE’s government announced that the scheduled launch of the probe will be a

”message of pride, hope, and peace to the Arab region, in which we renew the golden age of Arab and Islamic discoveries.”

Read more about this amazing Emirates space mission here.