16-02-2021 | 17:55 PM
HOPE: UAE’s Mars Mission
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.