Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid shares new image of Mars taken by Hope Probe

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, vice president and ruler of Dubai, shared a new photo of Mars taken by the Hope probe.

He said on Saturday that the data Hope gleaned showed greater amounts of oxygen than expected on the Red Planet.

The UAE has also started sharing the data it obtained with science centers around the world.

The image was of the northern parts of Mars.

Hope’s mission is to study the upper and lower atmosphere of the planet. The Emirates Mars Mission team will reveal more results in the coming weeks.

The orbiter also returned thousands of images that are helping the scientific community better understand the Martian surface.

The data includes a breakthrough finding that there is more oxygen in the Martian atmosphere than expected.

The image shared on Saturday shows the spring season in the northern part of the planet, with the Tharsis Montes region home to three large shield volcanoes clearly visible on the left.

After entering orbit on February 9, the probe began capturing scientific data on gas levels in the planet’s upper atmosphere. Gases include hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon monoxide.

The first dataset has been published online and can be downloaded free of charge.

The latest findings show that atomic oxygen and carbon monoxide are more abundant in the atmosphere than previously thought.

The data show dramatic variations in the concentrations of the two gases.

“These observations contain completely unexpected features and we believe they will have far-reaching consequences for our existing models of the Martian atmosphere and our understanding of its behavior,” said Hessa Al Matroushi, chief scientist of the Emirates mission. March.

“We just didn’t plan for structures of this scale and complexity. “

Existing data had shown that the planet’s atmosphere was extremely thin and was disappearing, with oxygen and hydrogen escaping and making it impossible for life to exist.

Research collected by the Emirates Mars mission will help build a more solid model of Mars’ atmosphere and its interaction with solar radiation.

It can also help scientists understand why and how Mars, which may have once supported ancient life, continues to lose its atmosphere.

The new observations also suggest unusual levels of atmospheric turbulence due to the high density of atomic oxygen.

“It was so unexpected that we initially thought that the structures might be artifacts in the image, caused by contaminating light of longer wavelengths than the instrument is designed to reject,” said Justin. Deighan, deputy scientific manager of the mission.

“We expected to observe relatively uniform oxygen emission at 130.4 nanometers across the planet and yet we are faced with unforeseen variations of 50% or more in brightness.

“The scientific team is currently refining its models to provide a solid interpretation of these results. It’s very exciting to be challenged in this way. This is exactly the type of science the mission was designed to pursue.

This image taken by the Hope spacecraft’s ultraviolet spectrometer (one of its three scientific instruments) shows sunlight reflecting off the extended cloud of atomic hydrogen gas that surrounds the planet Mars. Sunlight is only visible in the form of a dark disc hidden inside the gas fog. The Emirates Mars mission team said no other mission had made such recordings before.

The data will help scientists understand why and how Mars, which may have once supported ancient life, lost most of its atmosphere.

Three instruments on the spacecraft made it possible to collect scientific data.

The ultraviolet spectrometer measures particles escaping from the planet, while the infrared spectrometer constructs images at different infrared wavelengths.

Hundreds of high-resolution images of the planet were taken by the Exploration Imager, using specific filters to help scientists learn about things like ice in the atmosphere, small ice particles of water, ozone and dust storms.

Scientists from the Emirates Mars Mission team will share details of the latest findings at the International Astronautical Congress, to be held in Dubai from October 25-29.

The United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country to send a probe to Mars when Hope began to orbit the planet in February.

The mission is part of the UAE’s ambitious and expanding space program that this week announced plans to visit Venus and explore seven asteroids in the asteroid belt.

Updated: October 9, 2021, 12:19