Ever wondered if there has been life on Mars? This is just one of the questions the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) aims to answer during its journey to the Red Planet, set to launch in the early hours of July 20, 2020.
The EMM and The Hope Probe is a strategic initiative that was announced in 2014 by the UAE’s President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and UAE’s Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and as the very first interplanetary exploration by an Arab nation, is a proud moment for the Emirates.
Following a 493,500,000km journey to Mars, taking seven months to complete, The Hope Probe is expected to enter the planet’s orbit in early 2021 – which will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the year the United Arab Emirates was formed.
During the mission, The Hope Probe team will aim to gain new insights and understanding of the climate, terrain and atmosphere on Mars, giving scientists greater knowledge of the planet – including its seasons and weather – and potentially others further away.
It also aims to understand what is causing the changes to Mars’ atmosphere.
The mission, which is supervised by the UAE Space Agency and developed and executed by Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), aims to train and prepare UAE scientists to do significant work in field of space exploration, and is a vital part of the Emirates’ plans to create a sustainable outer space exploration program.
There will be three instruments onboard the probe, collecting different data. These are the Emirates eXploration Imager, a digital camera that will capture high-resolution images of the planet and measure elements in its atmosphere, The Emirates Mars InfraRed Spectometer, designed to measure the atmosphere’s distribution of dust, ice cloud and water, and The Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer, which will measure the elements (oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen) in the thermosphere.
Ready to witness UAE history being made? You can watch the launch live online via the EMM website.
For more information and for live updates, visit emiratesmarsmission.ae.
