The Hope probe will have to wait. The United Arab Emirates announced on Wednesday July 15 a further postponement of the launch to March of its probe due to unstable weather in Japan, from where it was to be launched.

"After long meetings, the United Arab Emirates Space Agency and the Mohamed ben Rached Space Center, after consultations with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, announce a further delay in the launch of the Hope probe, the UAE government said on Wednesday. Twitter. "A new launch date in July will be announced within 24 hours," added the authorities.

Originally scheduled for Tuesday, the take-off of the first Arab space mission to Mars had first been rescheduled for Thursday at 8:43 p.m. GMT (5:43 a.m. Friday in Japan) due to bad weather conditions.

The UAE program is one of three projects underway towards the Red Planet, alongside the Tianwen-1 from China and March 2020 from the United States, which take advantage of the period when Earth and Mars are closest: to just 55 million kilometers apart, compared to an average of around 76 million kilometers.

The probe, dubbed Al-Amal in Arabic or Hope in English, is expected to reach orbit on Mars by February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the unification of the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven principalities.

Once there, the probe will circle the planet for an entire Martian year, or 687 days. It should detach from the launch vehicle about an hour after takeoff.

With AFP 

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