The first Arab space mission to Mars is preparing to lift off within a week.
The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is the United Arab Emirates’ first mission to Mars. EMM is designed to orbit Mars and study the dynamics in the Martian atmosphere on a global scale and on both diurnal and seasonal timescales. It will take seven months to travel the 493 million km (308 million miles) to reach Mars and begin its orbit, sending back ground-breaking new data about its climate and atmosphere.
The probe will remain orbiting Mars for an entire Martian year, 687 days, to gather sufficient data. Named Amal, meaning Hope, the robotic craft is due to lift off from a remote Japanese island, Tanegashima, during a narrow launch window on 14 July.
The Hope Probe, the Arab world’s first interplanetary exploration, carries messages of pride and hope to the Arab region with the aim to usher in the renaissance of Arab and Islamic discoveries. The Hope Probe project aims to develop national skills in engineering, scientific research and innovation.
Powered by a Japanese rocket, it will be carrying three types of sensors for measuring the complex make-up of Mars’s atmosphere. These include a high-resolution multiband camera for measuring the planet’s dust and ozone. Second will be an infrared spectrometer for measuring the lower atmosphere and co-developed with Arizona State University, one of the project’s three US partner universities.
The third sensor will be an ultraviolet spectrometer for measuring oxygen and hydrogen levels. One of the focuses of the research will be into how these two elements, essential for water, are escaping from the planet.
UAE project leaders working on the mission have reminded the world that, eight centuries ago, Arab inventors and intellectuals were right at the forefront of scientific discovery.
The UAE’s interest in astronomy and space sciences dates back to the 1970’s, when His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan met with the NASA team responsible for the Apollo moon landing. This encounter eventually inspired the birth of a national space sector with the establishment of Thuraya Communications Company in 1997.
Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre is responsible for the execution and supervision of all stages of the design, development and launch of The Hope Probe in July 2020. Established in 2006, its mandate is to establish the space sector and advanced technology in the UAE.
There are now more than 200 employees working at MBRSC and the staff are 100% Emirati with 34% of the work force being female constituting the highest percentage of female participation worldwide.
The official countdown to the launch stage begins seven days before the day of lift-off. On July 8th the Emirati engineers and the Japanese team start preparing for the rocket roll out.
In pictures: Locked and loaded: The #HopeProbe, now attached to the payload support structure and encapsulated within the payload fairing, is all set to board the H2A launch vehicle. This is our last glimpse of the Probe before it’s launched into space. 1/2 #HopeMarsMission pic.twitter.com/UuDPCIPU3X
— Hope Mars Mission (@HopeMarsMission) July 10, 2020
The launcher gets placed into the lift-off (vertical) position and then transported to the launch pad, which takes up to half an hour. After, the rocket will then be fuelled and will take off into space at 12.51am and 27 seconds, UAE time.
Official live streaming plans are still to be announced.
Hope will arrive at the red planet in the same year that the UAE celebrates 50 years since its founding as a nation in 1971.
In July 2020, witness history in the making and participate in the #FirstArabicCountdown the world has ever seen!