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The United Arab Emirates ‘Hope probe aims to provide a year-round picture of Mars’ atmosphere.
Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center
This story is part of Welcome to mars, our series exploring the red planet.
The United Arab Emirates is now only the fifth country – and the first Arab country – to successfully land on Mars. The Al Amal (Hope) probe made history Tuesday when it entered orbit around the Red Planet.
It is a great month for the emissaries of Mars. The Hope mission is one of three to launch last year with arrivals slated for February. The United Arab Emirates Space Agency provided live coverage of the inspiring achievement of the spacecraft. You can review the excitement:
We didn’t get a view of the spaceship in action, but witnessed the celebration as Mission Control tracked the moment Hope entered orbit and called home with the good news.
“Success!” the mission team tweeted. “Contact with the Hope probe has been reestablished. The insertion of the orbit of Mars is now complete.”
Hope has spent over 200 days traveling from Earth to the Red Planet. It will not deliver a rover, but he is ready to undertake important science by studying the atmosphere, weather and seasons of the planet.
Thomas Zurbuchen, Associate Administrator of NASA, congratulated Team Hope, Tweeter, “Your daring effort to explore the Red Planet will inspire many more to reach for the stars.”
Hope will soon be followed in orbit by China’s Tianwen-1 Wednesday, and NASA will take over on February 18 when it tries to land the Perseverance rover on the surface of the planet. It will be a perilous and exciting time during a busy month on Mars.
But first, the world will celebrate Hope.
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