WEB DESK
UAE’s historic journey to Mars has been successfully started from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The spacecraft Hope Probe took off in an early morning launch.
The first Arab interplanetary space blasted into sky beginning its epic journey to Mars, a landmark moment for the Arab world as UAE makes history.
Hope Probe, or Al Amal in Arabic, lifted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre and 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, 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.
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.
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.
H2A, the rocket carrying the Hope Probe to space, was launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan. It is the Arab world’s first interplanetary landmark mission, putting UAE firmly ahead of all the countries in the Middle East in the area of space and technology.
Hope Probe Spacecraft is expected to reach the Red Planet by February 2021, to coincide with UAE’s 50th anniversary of its formation.
The orbiter Hope is expected to take images and send back data of the distant Red Planet.
Earlier addressing a pre-launch media briefing today, Omran Sharaf, the project manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, said that few hours from now, the Probe will take-off from Tanegashima Space Centre, Japan, aboard a Mitsubishi H-IIA rocket.
About an hour after the launch, the Probe will separate from the launch rocket. It will launch its solar panels and begin the seven-month journey towards the Red Planet using a propulsion system.
After the separation, Hope Probe will send its first signal from space to the operations room at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC. The received data will be analysed by the technical team at the Centre.
The Hope Probe is anticipated to enter Mars’ orbit in the first quarter of 2021, coinciding with the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations.
For the first time in history, the countdown to the launch of the Mars Hope Probe will be in Arabic.
The Arab world’s first interplanetary mission is run by a team of 200 Emirati engineers. The achievements of the Emirates Mars Mission team, include development of 200 new designs and manufacturing of 66 pieces of the probe components in the UAE.