By 2021, the "probe of hope" will come very close to Mars, and it will be a defining moment in which the project officials and millions of its followers will be held in breath, as the probe will have to work itself to enter what is known as the "picking orbit", and the difficulty of the moment lies in the delay of the signals sent from the probe. To the ground for about 20 minutes, which makes real-time probe control not possible.
The timetable determined that the "probe of hope" would reach its orbit on the Red Planet by 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the UAE federation. In order for the probe to be able to adhere to the schedule, it was necessary to observe the utmost degrees and criteria of time accuracy in what is known as the launch time (launch window), which is astronomically determined between July 15 to August 3.
This time limit is due to the fact that the Earth is faster in its orbit around the sun than Mars, and then it is attached to the red planet sometimes and precedes it at other times during the rotation of each in its orbit, and during the rotation the two planets are at their closest convergence point (only once every two years), which is The point known as the "launch deadline", which was set this July.
In the event that the probe is delayed or not committed within the launch deadline, it will not be able to reach Mars, or the decision-makers will then have to postpone the launch of the probe and wait for a full two years to repeat the experiment again during the next launch deadline in 2022.
According to the Emirates Project for Exploring Mars, the "Probe of Hope" will need during its space flight - which extends from seven to nine months - to change its position from time to time in order to direct its solar panels towards the sun in order to charge its batteries, and then to reorient its wave picker Towards the planet, aiming to maintain contact with the operations and observation center.
To be able to communicate with the planet, the probe will need to permanently locate it precisely in space, to be able to direct its pickup to the Earth, and for this reason the probe relies on star-tracked sensors using stellar grouping patterns, in much the same way that the Bedouins and sailors used in ancient times. Time to infer their way.
According to the schedule, at the beginning of 2021, the probe will approach a lot from Mars, and this will be a defining moment in which the project officials and millions of its followers will breathe breath, as the probe will have to use its propellers as brakes to reduce its speed, preparing to enter the orbit of Mars, and the difficulty of this moment lies in The probe will be so far away that radio signals will be delayed from 13 to 20 minutes to reach the ground, which makes instantaneous probe control not possible, and for this reason the probe software is designed to be self-controlled and able to make the decision to correct its path without human intervention.
Once the probe reaches the orbit of Mars, it will have to operate its engines for 30 minutes, to adhere to its new path of orbit around Mars. Otherwise, it will overtake the red planet and end up lost in space.
During this difficult phase of the life of the Mars journey to the "Probe of Hope", the Operations and Monitoring Team on the ground - specifically the Al Khawaneej Control Center in Dubai - will be in a state of anticipation pending the receipt of a signal from the probe indicating that it successfully entered the orbit of Mars.
Take the first photo
The "Probe of Hope" begins its first operations by taking the first image of Mars and sending it to the Earth Operations Center, after which the daily contact with the earth station is scheduled, so that the project team can perform command chain loads and receive data.