Emirati Probe “Hope” Sends its First Image of Mars
The automatic interplanetary station of the United Arab Emirates Hope entered the orbit of Mars six months after the launch. The probe successfully reached the orbit of the “Red Planet” and was recorded on it on February 9, 2021, at around 20: 15 Emirati time. The UAE became the fifth country in the world to reach Mars.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, tweeted: “The first picture of Mars captured by the first-ever Arab probe in history, 25,000 km above the Red Planet’s surface”.
The launch of the probe into the orbit of the “Red Planet” took place, as planned, after which the braking process began to enter the gravitational capture zone. The probe flew from Earth to Mars almost 500 million kilometers. It was launched on July 20 on a Japanese H-IIA launch vehicle from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The launch ceremony was shown live. More than 200 Emirati engineers and researchers worked on the creation of the device for more than six years. In parallel, the Emirates Mars Mission helped develop 200 new scientific technologies and build 66 probe parts in the UAE. The cost of the project amounted to 735 million dirhams (US$ 201 million).
Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, personally thanked the participants of the “Emirates Mars Mission”, noting that young talented Emiratis have raised the pride and reputation of the country to Mars. The Crown Prince, along with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, visited the mission control center of the “Hope” probe in the Al Khawaneej area of Dubai.
The spacecraft with the national flag of the United Arab Emirates covered a distance of 493 million km. The main goal of the mission is to collect data about the Red Planet, in particular, Arab researchers pay special attention to the study of the Martian climate. The results of the research will be sent to 200 scientific institutes around the world. In total, it will send a terabyte of data to Earth.
On board are a high-resolution camera, an infrared spectrometer for studying temperature conditions, ice, water vapor and dust in the atmosphere, as well as for studying the upper layers of the atmosphere and traces of oxygen and hydrogen. The probe will be the famous massive dust storms on Mars, will study the connections between the upper and lower layers of the Martian atmosphere and the causes of surface corrosion of the Red Planet.
Read more about a system of lakes on Mars here.
