NOTE TO SITES:
This article has been updated to reflect delays in the launch of the Hope Probe, which was first scheduled at 00:51:27 UAE time on Wednesday.
DUBAI: Our interest in space is endless. A desire to unravel the mysteries and mysteries of the universe for decades has inspired countries to push the boundaries of scientific and technical knowledge while trying to explore the unknown.
Several historic landmarks have been on the way, including the successful launch of Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, Yuri Gargarin’s orbit on Earth in 1961, and the first Moon landing in 1969.
With this elegant list we can now add the first interplanetary flight with an Arab country, with the UAE launching the Emirates Mars Mission Monday.
The unmanned probe, named Hope, took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan early Monday and began its 495 million-kilometer journey to the Red Planet. “
“The cost of the Hope Mars Mission [has] reached $ 200 million, which is considered among the lowest in the world compared to similar programs, ”said Mohammad Al-Gergawi, UAE minister for cabinet affairs and the future of the UAE in a message posted on Twitter with the Prime Minister’s Office.
The Hope Probe, launched by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H2A rocket, weighs 289 tons and is 53 meters high.
It is expected to enter orbit around Mars in February 2021, in time for 50 years since the UAE was founded.
“This mission includes the [UAE’s] aspirations, sending a positive message to the world and highlighting the importance of non-stop despite obstacles and challenges, ”said Sarah Al-Amiri, minister of state for sciences senior and deputy project manager of Emirates Mars Mission.
This historic moment for the region follows decades of preparation and work to achieve a great vision set forth in the 1970s by the late UAE founder Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nayhan. His interest in space was sparked by a 1976 meeting with NASA astronauts that had flown in several Apollo missions to the moon.
U.S. President Richard Nixon also donated a moon rock collected from Sheikh Zayed’s Taurus-Littrow Valley at the 1972 Apollo 17 mission. to date, on display in the Al-Ain Museum.
Shortly afterwards, Sheikh Zayed sent a clear message to his people, and the world, that Emirati’s knowledge of, and intentions for, space exploration would not be familiar with borders. Thus began the country’s journey into space.
In 2006, the UAE began working closely with universities and space agencies around the world to establish intelligence transfer programs, with the goal of one day sending a spacecraft to Mars.
However, it wasn’t until the UAE Space Agency was founded in 2014 that the world really began to sit up and pay attention to the country’s ambitious space exploration plans.
In 2017, 34-year-old military pilot Hazza Al-Mansouri was one of two people selected from 4,000 candidates to join the group’s initial astronaut group.
After rigorous mental and physical tests, he trained in Russia as part of an agreement between the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center and the Russian space agency, Roscosmos.
The first UAE astronaut joined the crew of the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft launched on September 25, 2019, en route to the International Space Station.
Al-Mansouri’s eight-day mission ended on October 2, when he landed safely in Kazakhstan, after which he proudly said he had returned with “The Sheikh Zayed space mission accomplished.”
Thirty-four years earlier, in June 1985, the pilot of the Saudi Royal Air Force, Prince Sultan bin Salman, became the first Muslim and Arab in space when he flew on the STS-51-G mission of Discovery US Space Shuttle. He was also the first member of a royal family in space and, at the age of 28, the youngest man to fly on the space shuttle.
Two years later, Syrian military aviator Mohammed Faris joined the Interkosmos Soviet training program and flew as a search cosmonaut on the Soyouz TM-3 mission to the Mir space station. He spent seven days, 23 hours and 5 minutes in space.
Now, 51 years after the first moon landed, a team of Emiratis is leading a mission to the Red Planet and monitoring all sides of the Hope Probe, an action that has been multi-faceted. complicated by the global COVID-19 pandemic.
As a result, the mission team was divided into three groups, with the challenges of transport, travel, logistics and the need to follow proper health measures.
Members of the first group arrived in Japan on April 6, where they completed mandatory quarantine and health checks. The second team followed on April 21st. The third team will remain in the UAE, providing back-up and mission support.
To allay concerns about the safety of the Mars mission during the pandemic, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE prime minister and governor of Dubai, reviewed the final preparations for the mission on 1 July .
He confirmed the launch date and described the mission as “an achievement for all Arabs and a source of pride for all Emirati. ”
For his part, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed Al-Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai, said: “Hope Probe highlights our national treasury of hundreds of young Emirati engineers and experts …. (It) represents a message hope and hope for man. ”
Suhail Al-Dhafri, deputy project manager of the Emirates Mars Mission and director of a spacecraft, said the probe has undergone a series of tests since arriving at the Tanegashima Space Center in April.
Carried over 50 working days, they included operational testing of spacecraft subsystems such as electric power, communications, altitude control, command and control, motion, thermal control and software systems.
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“Final inspections are important steps to ensure that all systems are working and meet pre-fuel requirements,” he said. “It is essential to get these parameters before you make the probe ready for build as in our startup window.”
After entering orbit around Mars, the Hope Probe explores the planet’s daily and seasonal orbits, along with the erosion of the Martian atmosphere, a process that leaves the planet without water and unfit. for life.
The UAE shares the data it collects with more than 200 academic and scientific institutions worldwide for free.
The UAE has plans to establish the first human settlement on Mars by 2117. This month, Sheikh Mohammed announced the launch of the Arab Space Pioneers program, which focuses on Arab knowledge in science. space and advancing technologies.
As part of a three-year program, young Arab researchers, scientists, entrepreneurs and creative talents will learn the skills needed for a career in the expanding space sector.
The UAE is committed to keeping the world on its toes with the goal of establishing the first human settlement on Mars by 2117 – one that can only be achieved through the knowledge and determination of future generations.
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