The Emirati probe “Al-Amal,” or Hope, is expected to reach the first Arab-exploration flight of its kind, orbiting Mars on Tuesday, leaving it as the first of three missions to reach the red planet this month.
The UAE, China and the United States launched missions to Mars last July, taking advantage of a favorable location for launching a new batch of research instruments into orbit or the planet’s surface most interesting in the solar system.
If the mission succeeds, the rich Gulf state, which this year marks 50 years, will be the 5th country in the world to reach Mars, and China will be the sixth day the next day.
Before the expected date, the UAE lit its landmarks red at night, and government accounts on social media posted a picture of the “Hope” probe, while the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. -world, preparing for a big festival showcase.
Unlike the other two Mars projects, the Chinese “Taeunwin-1” and the American “Mars 2020”, the Emirati probe does not land on the Red Planet, but instead orbits for a full Martian year, equivalent to 687 days.
Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have sent messages into the orbit of the Red Planet.
Following its successful launch from Japan last July, the “Hope” probe’s mission faces its “most important and complex” move, according to Emirati officials, with a 50 percent success rate to enter the orbit of Mars.
The process of slowing down the spacecraft’s speed to the point that it can be launched into Mars’s gravitational orbit will be meticulous, and will begin Tuesday afternoon at 7.30pm local time (1530 GMT).
The probe rotates to the extent that it is permissible to enter the capture orbit, and the fuel burning process continues using six rear-drive motors for 27 minutes to increase its speed. automatically reduced from 121 miles to 18 miles per hour.
This complex process consumes half the fuel on the probe, with 11 minutes for a signal from the “Hope” probe to reach Earth.
Imran Sharaf, director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, said it was a “huge honor” that the UAE was the first to reach the Red Planet this year.
“We feel humbled to be in such a partnership (…), this has never been a race for us, as we treat place as effort and co-operation, “he said.
While the mission’s goal is to provide a complete picture of the dynamics of the weather in the planet’s atmosphere and the way to develop a scientific breakthrough, the probe is part of a larger goal to build a human settlement on Mars side by side. within a hundred years.
This is the first mission of its kind in the Arab world, and was designed as a source of inspiration for the younger generation in an area that often suffers from conflict and economic crisis.
The probe will use three scientific methods to monitor the Martian atmosphere and is expected to begin sending information to Earth in September 2021.