ABU DHABI 20 July 2020: The first Arab interplanetary space mission blasted into sky early morning, beginning its epic journey to Mars, a landmark moment for the Arab world as UAE made history.
Hope Probe, or Al Amal in Arabic, lifted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre, In about 200 days from now, the spacecraft will reach Mars orbit and begin its mission to study the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
The nation held its breath on Sunday night, along with the entire region, as the probe took off from Land of Rising Sun in Japan, aboard a Mitsubishi H-IIA rocket in the first mission to the red planet by any West Asian, Arab or Muslim majority country, said Wam.
Once it enters Mars’ orbit in the first quarter of 2021, the Hope probe will mark the UAE’s 50th anniversary. The probe will travel 493 million kilometers into space in a journey that will take seven months, and will orbit the Red Planet for one full Martian year of 687 days to provide the first truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere. The Hope probe will be the first to study the Martian climate throughout daily and seasonal cycles. It will observe the weather phenomena in Mars such as the massive famous dust storms that have been known to engulf the Red Planet, as compared to the short and localized dust storms on earth.
Atmosphere Loss
The Mars Hope probe will examine the interaction between the upper and lower layers of the Martian atmosphere and causes of the Red Planet’s surface corrosion, as well as study why Mars is losing its upper atmosphere.
Exploring connections between today’s Martian weather and the ancient climate of the Red Planet will give deeper insights into the past and future of Earth and the potential of life on Mars and other distant planets.
The probe will gather and send back new Mars data to the Science Data Center in the UAE via different ground stations spread around the world. The data will be catalogued and analyzed by the Emirates Mars Mission science team, and shared for free with the international Mars science community as a service to human knowledge.
Help evaluate distant worlds
The insights and data gained from understanding the Martian climate will add new dimensions to human knowledge about how atmospheres work, which will help scientists and researchers evaluate distant worlds for conditions that might support life. Understanding the geographical and climate changes of Mars and the other planets will help us gain deeper insights to find solutions for key challenges facing mankind on Earth.
Reception of first transmission
The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre have announced that the Ground Control station located in the Al Khawaneej area of Dubai has successfully received the first transmission from the Hope Probe at 03:10 am.
The Hope Probe blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre at 01:58 Monday morning, the probe then was successfully released from the rocket at 02:55, and its solar panels were turned on to ensure at 03:00, then the panels were set to face the sun properly.
The UAE Space Agency and Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre have announced that the first transmission was received at 03:11. The team of the Ground Control Station has analyzed the data to ensure that the solar panels are facing the sun properly.
Seven months to travel the 493 million km
It will take seven months to travel the 493 million km, it is expected to reach its Mar’s orbit in February 2021 marking the 50th anniversary of the UAE.
The launch of the probe was delayed two time due to unstable weather conditions, the July 20th was chosen as the third launch date.
The probe will remain orbiting Mars for an entire Martian year, 687 days, to gather sufficient data. A single orbit around Mars will take the probe 55 hours.
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