HOPE: UAE’s Mars Mission

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Context

Recently, the United Arab Emirates' (UAE’s) first-ever interplanetary Hope Probe mission has successfully entered orbit around Mars. The UAE has thus become the fifth country to launch a spacecraft into MARS orbit after the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe and India.

Key Highlights

• The UAE’s Mars Mission called ‘Hope’ was announced in 2015 with the objective of creating mankind’s 1st integrated model of the Red planet’s (Mars) atmosphere.

• ‘Hope’ was developed by UAE scientists in the USA and was launched in July 2020 from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan.

• The mission is officially named the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) and the orbiter has been named Hope or ‘Al Amal’.

• The Mars Hope Probe weights just 1.5 tonnes, about the same size as an SUV. It is expected to complete one orbit around the planet every 55 hours. 

• The overall life of UAE’s Mars mission is around one Martian year, which is about 687 days on Earth.

• The three main objectives of the Hope probe are: 

  • To understand the climate dynamics and global weather map of Mars by studying the lower atmosphere of Mars. 

  • To explain how the weather of Mars affects the escape of hydrogen and oxygen, by correlating conditions in the lower and upper atmosphere. 

  • To understand the presence and variability of hydrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere, and why Mars is losing these gases to space.
     

Significance of the Mission 

• With the successful Mars orbit insertion, the UAE becomes the fifth country to reach Mars.

• Success of this mission will help UAE in building a knowledge-based economy, leading to more investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) for young Emiratis.

• ‘Hope’ mission is not only important for UAE, but also for the whole of Arab world, as it is the Arab world's 1st interplanetary mission.

• An understanding of Mars’ past could help scientists understand the future of Earth.