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The UAE’s “Hope” probe, the first Arab space mission, expected to reach Mars orbit on Tuesday, took off from Japan in July 2020
The first Arab space mission, the United Arab Emirates’ “Hope” probe, is expected to reach Mars orbit on Tuesday, making it the first of three spacecraft to arrive on the Red Planet this month.
The United Arab Emirates, China, and the United States all launched projects on Mars last July, taking advantage of a time when Earth and Mars are closest.
If successful, the wealthy Gulf state will become the fifth nation to reach Mars – a venture scheduled to mark the 50th anniversary of the unification of the United Arab Emirates – with the Chinese mission becoming the sixth the following day.
United Arab Emirates landmarks were lit red at night, government accounts sporting the hashtag #ArabstoMars and on the big day Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, will be the center of a celebratory spectacle .
“Hope,” known as “Al-Amal” in Arabic, will orbit the planet for at least one Martian year, or 687 days, while China’s Tianwen-1 and Mars 2020 rover Perseverance des United States will both land on Mars’ surface.
Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have managed to reach the Red Planet in the past.
Risky maneuver
After taking off from Japan last July, the Hope mission now faces its “most critical and complex” maneuver, according to Emirati officials, with a 50 to 50 chance of successfully entering orbit from Mars.
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the tallest skyscraper in the world, was lit in red to celebrate the UAE’s Mars probe
The spacecraft must slow down considerably to be captured by Martian gravity, spinning and firing its six Delta-V thrusters for 27 minutes to reduce its cruising speed from 121,000 kilometers (about 75,000 miles) per hour to about 18,000 km / h.
The process, which will consume half of its fuel, will begin at 3:30 p.m. GMT on Tuesday and it will take 11 minutes for a signal on its progress to reach ground control.
Omran Sharaf, the UAE mission’s project manager, said it was a “huge honor” to be the first of this year’s missions to reach Mars.
“It is humbling to be in such a successful and skilled company as we all embark on our missions,” he said. “It has never been a race for us. We approach space as a collaborative and inclusive effort.”
While the Hope spacecraft is designed to provide a complete picture of the planet’s weather dynamics, it is also a step towards a much more ambitious goal: to build a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.
While consolidating its status as a key regional player, the UAE also wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a region too often ravaged by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.
Hope will use three scientific instruments to monitor the Martian atmosphere and is expected to start transmitting information to Earth in September 2021, with the data available to scientists around the world.
The “Hope” probe known as “Al-Amal” in Arabic will orbit Mars for at least one Martian year, or 687 days, and is designed to provide a complete picture of the weather on the Red Planet.
Close behind
Chinese Tianwen-1, or “Questions to Heaven”, has already returned its first image of Mars – a black and white photo showing geological features including the Schiaparelli crater and the Valles Marineris, a vast expanse of canyons on the Martian area.
The five-ton Tianwen-1 features a Mars orbiter, lander, and solar-powered rover that will study the planet’s soil and atmosphere for three months, take photos, map maps, and look for signs of past life.
China hopes to land the 240-kilogram rover in May in Utopia, a massive impact basin on Mars. Its orbiter will last a Martian year.
Tianwen-1 is not China’s first attempt to reach Mars. A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely when the launch failed.
NASA’s Perseverance, due to land on the Red Planet on Feb. 18, will become the fifth rover to complete the trip since 1997 – and so far all are Americans.
He’s on an astrobiology mission to look for signs of ancient microbial life, and will attempt to fly a 1.8-kilogram helicopter-drone over another world for the first time.
Perseverance, able to autonomously navigate 200 meters (650 feet) per day, will collect rock samples that could provide invaluable clues as to whether there was past life on Mars.
About the size of a small SUV, it weighs a metric ton, has 19 cameras and two microphones – which scientists hope will be the first to record sound on Mars.
The mission is expected to last at least two years.
Chinese space probe returns first image of Mars
© 2021 AFP
Quote: The UAE’s ‘Hope’ probe will be the first of a trio of missions to Mars (February 7, 2021) retrieved on February 7, 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-02-uae-probe-trio- mars-missions.html
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