The team of the Emirates Project for Exploration of Mars, "Probe of Hope", stated that the team of the ground control station in Al Khawaneej, Dubai, continues its preparations to follow the probe after the launch process, contacting it until it reaches the orbit of Mars, then receiving scientific and operational data and transferring it to engineers for analysis.
He added that the shelf life of the satellite is four years, during which it works to achieve a number of scientific goals on the surface of the red planet, the most prominent of which is to provide a comprehensive study on the climate of Mars and its atmosphere.
The study will give scientists a deeper insight into the past and future of the planet, the possibilities of finding life on Mars and other planets, and studying the reasons for the erosion of the atmosphere on Mars by tracking the behavior and pathway of the exit of hydrogen and oxygen atoms, which are the basic units for forming water molecules.
The team of the ground control station in the Emirates project for the exploration of Mars, "Probe of Hope", continues its final preparations to accompany the probe throughout its journey to the Red Planet, from the moment it takes off next Wednesday from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, on a scientific mission that is the largest of its kind for the space sector at the country level.
The team of young Emirati cadres is completing a path of years of scientific and logistical preparations to control the mission of "The Probe of Hope". The team of qualified engineers and specialists with years of experience in the space sector will perform simulation tests and final follow-up to ensure the success of the control, follow-up and liaison operations with the "Probe of Hope".
After launching the probe, the ground control station team from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in Al Khawaneej, Dubai, will monitor and contact the probe until it reaches Mars orbit.
During the first 30 days, the Earth station team will work on a 24-hour shift system to receive communication from the probe, then send orders to it, receive the information it records after it separates from the launch missile, and open the solar powered system.
The Operations and Ground Control team responsible for monitoring the “Hope Probe” from the earth station at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center includes a group of qualified national competencies in the space control sector.
And on the role played by the ground control team at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center in the Emirates Mars Exploration Project in conjunction with the countdown to the launch of the "Probe of Hope", the Deputy Project Director responsible for Operations and Control of the Hope Probe, Engineer Zakaria Al Shamsi, during a press conference held remotely, that «Preparations started from the beginning of the project with programming, operations, and work plans interspersed with numerous simulation tests that tested capabilities and capabilities during control experiments according to different scenarios, while creating quick solutions to various problems.
On the main tasks of the ground support team, Al-Shamsi said: “It is to receive scientific and operational information about the probe, and then present it to engineers who analyze the health of the probe path through operating information and movement of the probe, and to scientists on the other hand who analyze the scientific information collected by the probe. In addition to sending orders to the probe, receiving information, and making sure the performance and path of the probe are correct.
Al Shamsi added: “After the launch, the first signal will be received from the probe, which is a very important stage because it comes after the probe separates from the launch rocket, and the area of the probe’s arrival is scanned to capture its signals, which will operate automatically once the panels are opened and the signal is sent to the ground. Then we receive the information and start communicating with the probe, which is a moment that will be very important, and then the communication continues to and from the probe in the form of sent orders and information that is received around the clock throughout 30 days.
On the concerted efforts of the members of the earth station team around the clock, Al-Shamsi said: “Work will take place around the clock during the first 30 days after launching the probe to test the communication mechanisms of the probe, and the team will work in rotation 24 hours to follow the probe without stopping. Upon launch, there will be a navigation control official who works on launch orders alternately with other members.
He added: «There is a team of engineers responsible for the analytical operations of the probe’s tasks. After 30 days, the team will be allowed, over seven months, to communicate twice a week with the probe by six hours for each contact window, while the team works outside the times of contact with the probe to analyze the precise direction to its correct orbit, and then send orders that contain the correct coordinates until the probe reaches its target destination In the orbit of mars. ”
In response to a question for «Emirates Today»,
He said that the shelf life of the satellite is four years, explaining that the moon will achieve during this period a number of targets on the surface of the red planet, the most prominent of which is to provide a comprehensive study on the climate of Mars and its atmosphere.
As for the first systems and software specialist at the Emirates Space Agency and an official commanding orders for the Probe of Hope project, Engineer Mubarak Mohamed Al Ahbabi, he said: “I joined the Hope Probe team in late 2015, where I worked with colleagues at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center representing the Emirates Space Agency, and worked with The team has many scientific experiments, and it was essential to ensure the compatibility of the elements of the earth station, and the ability of the control and control center to receive and send information, data and orders during and after the launch. Our task will be to monitor during follow-up shifts during the first 30 days, and to inform the team of any required procedures. ”
Regarding his feeling towards participating in the project, he said: “I consider myself one of the lucky ones in my work on the first Arab-Islamic probe to be launched from the Emirates. And I am proud of our ability to reach this stage after six years of accumulating the knowledge and experience that we have acquired to be able to accomplish in the space sector »
“I started working on the project since 2016, before which I was part of (DubaiSat 1) and (DubaiSat 2) and the astronauts project,” said Eng Ahmed Ahmed Wali, Senior Engineer, Satellite Operations Unit and Navigational Control Officer in the Probe of Hope project. The (Probe of Hope) added qualitative expertise to us because it focuses on the field of deep space and interplanetary trips, which is different, because the operations and control processes are significantly different from the normal satellites.
The navigation control official, leader of the engineering model development team for the “Probe of Hope” system, Engineer Ali Al-Suwaidi said: “My role has been to contribute to building and developing the engineering program for the project I joined since 2017, and it is the culmination of my specialty in space engineering. We have gained important experiences in ground control, development and construction of the probe, tests before launching the mission, and the probe control mechanisms after launch. ”
As for the operations software developer in the Probe of Hope project, Engineer Hamad Al-Hazami, he said: “I joined in late 2016 to the project, and it was my turn to participate in software development and supervision of computer engineering operations in the launch center in addition to my work command and control operator. The challenge of moving from the academic to the practical was great, in addition to working in the field of space, as this is my first mission in this vital field after my specialization in computer engineering.
The mission director of mission operations for the Hope Probe project, Majed Al-Logani, said: “I started my assignment before the launch in the ground mission design team, planning mission operations, and setting plans for each stage the probe goes through. After launching the probe, I will work within the team to manage the probe’s operations, to ensure its safety and the correctness of operations from Earth to Mars, in addition to following up the scientific stage and following up taking scientific images and sending them to the earth station, with coordination between the control and planning teams and engineers ».
He added: "The current challenge is that the probe is launching towards a second planet, where programming tasks for sending missions and receiving information from the probe differ, but our arrival at this stage is a pride for all of us."
A systems engineer at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, the leader of the mission design and navigation team in the deep space of the “Probe of Hope” mission, Engineer Omar Abdel Rahman Hussein said: “We tried to simulate the challenges that the mission can go through, and we have worked over the past years to verify various scenarios, as We designed the first deep space navigation device at the region level, and devised a new way to locate the probe that differs from GPS geographic systems, and we started using two-way radio transmission waves, and we used bouncing sound technology to know the speed of the probe.
As for the head of the agency's space operations division and the navigational control official of the earth station for the "Probe of Hope", Engineer Mohammed Al-Balushi, he said: "My primary tasks include sending the first signal of the probe from the earth station. I have been a member of the team establishing and developing the work mechanism at the Earth Station Operations Center, in addition to my work on integration tests and the probe’s mission matches the earth station data. ”
“I joined the (Probe of Hope) team in 2016, and I had previously joined the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in 2014. This experience has added a lot to me because it is distinct from Others with the new information that it provides, in addition to dealing with very distant space distances that make contacting the probe an accurate process more difficult than it is within the normal satellites that exist in the orbit of the planet Earth.
A message of hope
The "Probe of Hope" carries a message of hope for all the peoples of the region to revive a history rich in Arab and Islamic achievements in science, and embodies the ambition of the UAE and the continued drive of its leadership to challenge the impossible and overcome it and establish this trend is a value that is rooted in the identity of the state and the culture of its children, as it is an Emirati contribution in shaping and making a promising future For humanity.
The "Probe of Hope" is expected to reach the orbit of Mars in February 2021, in conjunction with the UAE's celebrations of its golden jubilee and the passage of 50 years since the declaration of the Union in 1971.
The Earth Station team works during the first 30 days with a 24-hour shift system.
The team’s mission is to receive contact from the probe, send orders to it, and receive information.
Display the probe data to engineers to analyze its path health through operation and movement information.
The ground support team is ready to send orders and receive information from the "Hope Probe" throughout the trip.