“Hope” is expected to reach the orbit of Mars by February 2021.
Tokyo, Japan:
The first Arab space mission to Mars, an unmanned probe dubbed “Hope”, took off from Japan on Monday with the aim of revealing more about the atmosphere of the Red Planet.
The Japanese rocket carrying the probe developed by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took off from the Tanegashima space center in southern Japan on schedule at 6:58 a.m. local time (2158 GMT Sunday).
The launch of the spacecraft, known as “Al-Amal” in Arabic, had been delayed twice due to inclement weather, but Monday’s takeoff seemed smooth and successful.
Almost exactly an hour later, a live stream showed people clapping in the Japanese control room as the probe successfully detached.
“The launcher’s trajectory was completed as planned and the separation of the Hope spacecraft was confirmed,” said the rocket manufacturer Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
In Dubai, the launch was greeted with enthusiastic excitement, with the Burj Khalifa – the tallest skyscraper in the world – lit up a few hours before takeoff with a symbolic 10-second countdown in anticipation.
“This mission is a milestone for the United Arab Emirates and the region,” said Yousuf Hamad AlShaibani, director of the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, during a press conference after the launch in Japan.
“This has already inspired millions of young people in the region to dream big and work hard to achieve what seems impossible,” he said.
Human settlement on Mars?
The UAE project is one of three races to Mars, including Tianwen-1 from China and March 2020 from the United States, taking advantage of a period when Earth and Mars are closest.
In October, Mars will be a comparatively close distance of 38.6 million miles (62.07 million km) from Earth, according to NASA.
“Hope” is set to orbit Mars by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the United Arab Emirates, an alliance of seven emirates.
Unlike the other two Mars projects planned for this year, it will not land on the red planet, but will orbit it for an entire Martian year, or 687 days.
While the objective of the United Arab Emirates mission is to provide a complete picture of the dynamics of time, the probe is the basis of a much larger objective – the construction of a human settlement on Mars during the 100 coming years.
Dubai has hired architects to imagine what a Martian city might look like and build it in its desert under the name of “Science City”, at a cost of around $ 135 million.
The UAE also wants the project to be a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a region too often ravaged by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.
“Pride, hope, peace”
On Twitter, the UAE government said the probe is launching a “message of pride, hope and peace in the Arab region, in which we are renewing the golden age of Arab and Islamic discoveries”.
Several dozen probes – mostly American – have left for the Red Planet since the 1960s. Many have never gone so far or failed to land.
The desire to explore Mars marked until confirmation less than 10 years ago that water once flowed on its surface.
Omran Sharaf, project manager of the mission, said that the Hope probe will offer a special perspective on the planet.
“What is unique about this mission is that for the first time, the scientific community around the world will have a holistic view of the Martian atmosphere at different times of the day and in different seasons,” said Sharaf during ” a pre-launch briefing.
Hope is expected to begin transmitting information to Earth in September 2021, with its data available to scientists around the world to study.
The United Arab Emirates already has nine satellites in Earth orbit, and plans to launch eight more in the coming years. And in September, he sent the first Emirates into space on a mission to the International Space Station.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
