The first Arab space flight to Mars finally started yesterday, with the mission of the Emirati probe, "The Probe of Hope", which seeks to explore parts and dynamics of heat on the Red Planet. This mission is considered a new station within the ambitious UAE space program.
The journey of "hope"
According to those responsible for the "Hope" project, it is designed to inspire the region's youth and pave the way for scientific breakthroughs.
The weight of the automatic "Hope Probe" is 1,350 kilograms, which is about the size of a four-wheel drive vehicle. Use the Mitsubishi Heavy Industry Platform to launch from the Japan Space Center Tanegashima.
It will take "Hope" seven months to travel 493 million km to Mars, to reach its goal in conjunction with the UAE celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Union.
Once in orbit, each episode will take 55 hours, at an average speed of 121,000 km per hour, while contact with the UAE command and control center is limited to six to eight hours twice a week.
The probe will remain in orbit for a full Martian year, or 687 days.
Study and inspire
Three technical instruments installed on the probe will transmit a complete picture of the atmosphere of the Red Planet throughout the Martian year.
An infrared spectrometer will analyze the lower atmosphere and temperature structure, while a high-resolution imaging device will provide information about ozone levels. Finally, a UV device measures the levels of oxygen and hydrogen from a distance of up to 43,000 km from the surface.
Project officials say understanding the climate of other planets will allow a better understanding of the Earth's climate, but the project is also designed to inspire the troubled region and wars, and to recall the peak of scientific progress during the Middle Ages. "The Emirates wanted to send a strong message to Arab youth, and to remind them of the past, that we were a source of knowledge," said project manager, Imran Sharaf.
8 missions
There are currently eight active missions currently exploring Mars, some orbiting around the planet, and others landing on its surface. China and the United States plan to send another flight this year.
In order to develop and build the "Probe of Hope", the Emiratis and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center worked with American educational institutions with expertise in space science. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center will oversee the probe during its flight.
Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union and the European Space Agency have succeeded in sending missions to the orbit of the Red Planet, while China is preparing to launch its first spacecraft for Mars later this month.
The UAE is pressing to join the ranks of these countries.
Last September, Hazza Al Mansouri became the first Emirati astronaut.
While the mission’s goal is to provide a comprehensive picture of the weather’s dynamics in the atmosphere of the Red Planet, the probe that says “nothing is impossible” is part of a larger goal to build a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.
In the period leading up to the mission, the UAE announced that it was opening its doors to Arabs across the crisis-ridden region, to participate in a three-year space program.
"Hope belongs to millions of young people in this region who are eager for progress, inspiration and opportunities," said Hind Al Otaiba, director of strategic communications at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "It is a direct challenge to those who continue to suppress these aspirations," she added.
Why does the Emirates go to Mars?
The UAE has limited experience designing and manufacturing spacecraft, yet it is trying something that only the United States, Russia, Europe and India have succeeded in doing.
But this reflects the aspirations of the Emiratis to dare to face this challenge. With the guidance of American experts, its engineers produced an advanced probe in just six years, and when this satellite reaches Mars, it is expected to provide a new science and reveal new insights about the workings of the planet's atmosphere. In particular, scientists believe it can increase our understanding of how Mars lost much of its air, and with it much of its water.
The "probe of hope" is widely considered a means of inspiration, something that will attract more young people in the Emirates and in the Arab region to seek science in the various stages of education.
The satellite is one of several projects the UAE government says indicates its intention to reduce the country's dependence on oil and gas, and to head towards a future based on a knowledge economy.
But, as is always the case with regard to Mars, the stakes are high, as half of the missions sent to the Red Planet ended in failure.
Imran Sharaf, the project manager, realizes the risks, but insists that his country is right to try. "This mission is a research and development mission, and yes, failure is a possibility," he told BBC News.
However, failure to advance as a nation is not an option, he added. What matters most to us here is the capabilities and capabilities that the Emirates gained from this mission, and the knowledge that it brought to the country. ”
How did the UAE manage to do this?
The UAE government has told the project team that it cannot purchase the spacecraft from a large foreign company. She had to build her own satellite.
This means partnering with American universities that have the necessary expertise.
Emirati and American engineers and scientists worked side by side to design and build spacecraft systems and the three instruments on board the ship that will study the planet.
"I can offer you the process that refueling a spacecraft, but until you wear a lifejacket and 800 kilograms of extremely volatile missile fuel are transferred from the tanks to the spacecraft, you really won't know what it is," said the chief systems engineer. "The UAE pay engineers have done this now, and they know how to do it the next time they build a spacecraft," he added.
What science will the "Probe of Hope" practice on Mars?
The Emiratis did not want to practice science in the way “me too”, and they did not want to come to the Red Planet and repeat the measurements that others had made previously.
So they went to a NASA advisory committee, called the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, and asked what research the UAE probe could add to the current state of knowledge. The group's recommendations formulated the goals of the "Hope Probe".
• While the mission’s goal is to provide a comprehensive picture of the weather’s dynamics in the atmosphere of the Red Planet, the probe that says “nothing is impossible” is part of a larger goal to build a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.
The project is designed to inspire the region plagued by turmoil and war, and to recall the peak scientific progress achieved by Arabs during the Middle Ages.
• The UAE is pressing to join the ranks of the major countries that invaded space. Last September, Hazza Al Mansouri became the first Emirati astronaut.
A city on the "Red Planet"
Facts and figures about the program, which is inspired by golden periods in the history of the Middle East and the world, were known for their cultural and scientific achievements:
The UAE has nine satellites in space for communications and data collection, and has plans to launch eight more satellites in the coming years.
Last September, Hazza Al-Mansouri became the first Emirati astronaut to take a flight into space, and he was part of a three-person team that launched a Soyuz missile from Kazakhstan towards the International Space Station. Al-Mansouri is the first Arab to visit the International Space Station.
In 2017, Dubai employed engineers and technicians to visualize how a city could be built on the Red Planet. In the meantime, it plans to establish a "Mars Science City" at a cost of about 500 million dirhams ($ 135 million), the aim of which is to simulate conditions similar to those on Mars.
Under the national space strategy that was launched last year, the UAE is also looking to implement other projects, including space tourism, and signed a memorandum of understanding in this framework with the company "Virgin Galactic", owned by billionaire Richard Branson.
Probe missions
The Emirati satellite will study how energy moves through the atmosphere, from the bottom up, at all times of the day, and during all seasons of the year. It will track features such as the top dust on Mars, which greatly affects the atmosphere's temperature. He will also consider what happens with the behavior of neutral hydrogen and oxygen atoms above the atmosphere. There is a suspicion that these atoms play an important role in the continuous erosion of the Martian atmosphere, due to the active particles that flow away from the sun. This is in the interest of knowing why the planet now lacks most of the water that it clearly possessed early in its history. To compile his observations, the "Probe of Hope" will take a subtropical orbit, standing far from the planet from 22,000 to 44,000 km.
“By doing this, for example, we will be able to fly over Olympus Mons (the largest volcano in the solar system), while moving around different times of the day, and at other times, we will leave Mars,” says David Brian, of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Going on under us. ”
"We will get full disk images of Mars," he added.