UAE’s Maiden ‘Hope’ Probe Set to Reach Mars on Feb 9

The Martian Space Race

UAE's space probe will be the first of three spacecraft to reach the Red Planet, with all three set to arrive within the month. The Arab nation launched its first space mission, together with China and the United States. All three countries took advantage of the time when Earth and Mars are at their closest point to one another last July 2019.

Should the Hope space probe successfully reach Mars' orbit, the Middle Eastern leader will be the fifth nation in the world to ever reach the Red Planet, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the unification of the emirates to form UAE back on December 2, 1971.

UAE will be followed by China as the sixth nation to reach Mars as its Tianwen-1 mission orbiter and lander is set to reach orbit the following day, February 10, and projected to land on the Martian surface sometime in May this year.

Reports have already noted how UAE has lit up its evening skyline in red and a strong social media presence of government pages and citizens carrying the hashtag #ArabstoMars. Also, a celebratory program for the milestone is laid out at the Dubai Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower.

Before the UAE and China, the only nations to have reached Mars are the United States, India, the former Soviet Union (USSR), and the European Space Agency (ESA).

The Emirates Mars Mission

While three nations have launched their Mars-bound missions last year, the history of human space exploration to the Red Planet has never been easy. Starting with the Soviet Union's 1960 attempt to send a probe to Mars, it failed to leave orbit and began a series of ten failed missions until the 1971 Mars 3 became the first to successfully reach Mars. Since then, almost half of Martian space missions ended in failure due to a variety of reasons.

As for the UAE, since it launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan last July 19, this marks the trickiest part of the mission so far. From its flight velocity so far, the Hope space probe must slow down significantly and allow itself to be captured by Mars' gravity and using its six Delta-V thrusters to match its cruising speed from 121,000 kilometers per hour (about 75,000 miles per hour) down to 18,000 kph (a little over 11,000 mph). The maneuver alone is expected to consume half of its fuel load.

Officially designated as the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), the UAE's uncrewed space mission - through the Hope orbiter - ultimately aims to study daily and seasonal weather systems in the Red Planet. It will be examining dust storms and differences in weather patterns among different parts of the planet. 

Check out more news and information about Mars in Science Times.