The team of the Emirates Project for Exploration of Mars, "Probe of Hope", stated that the probe is 95 thousand kilometers from the earth, and this distance was covered from the moment of its launch at 1:58 minutes yesterday (Emirates time), on board the missile, from the Japanese island of Tanegashima, until The date of the press conference organized by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center at its headquarters at one o'clock in the afternoon yesterday, indicating that it began to analyze the data received from the probe, and the probe team is working around the clock for a period of two weeks next to follow up the probe's work.
For his part, Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Small and Medium Enterprises and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Space Agency, Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, stressed that the success of the launch of the probe is a great achievement, and it has several positive repercussions, most notably the development of human cadres in the state in the field of space, adding: «We have 200 Emirati engineers and five centers concerned with space, most notably the National Center for Space Sciences at the UAE University, which has an initial budget of 200 million dirhams, and 60,000 students have been inspired and involved in the project's outputs, the completion of 51 research scientific papers and the development of 66 pieces of the probe inside the country, and the development 200 new technologies while working on the probe. ”
On the UAE’s ambition for the post-Mars stage, Al Falasi said that the UAE has made great achievements in a short period of time compared to other countries that have a long history in this sector, from manufacturing satellites «Khalifa Sat» and sending the first Emirati astronaut to the International Space Station, and sending The first Arab-Islamic probe to explore Mars has become among the countries that compete in the space industry, and our focus during the current period is focused on completing the mission to the fullest, because it contains great challenges and greater success, the project will achieve when starting to send data.
For his part, the director of the “Probe of Hope” project, Engineer Omran Sharaf, confirmed that the probe is in good condition, and its journey to Mars will take seven months, and its scientific mission will start in February 2021, pointing out that the information that the probe will provide will be available to all countries of the world in a scientific platform Scientists benefit from them to conduct their research, stressing that the probe project is scientific and not commercial. He added that «the earth station team is currently working around the clock for two weeks, and the duration may decrease for a week depending on the health status of the probe, while the duration of one contact with the probe is about six hours», noting that «the scientific platform is ready to publish the information received from the probe, and will be announced That later, while the next stage will be the transition to the Red Planet in February, specifically the 30 minutes before the probe enters its Martian orbit, as it is an accurate stage.
Sharaf said to «Emirates Today»: «We designed the probe so that the duration of its work (its shelf life) is two Martian years equivalent to four Earth years, and we planned to accomplish the scientific mission of the probe in a Martian year, equivalent to two Earth years, so therefore if we finish the mission during the first Martian year, We will have an opportunity for another Martian year to add other missions to the probe, and this mission will be determined at a later time, before completing his main mission. ”
On the impact of the delay of launching the probe for five days from the first date for that on July 15, on a date the probe began to carry out its mission, he explained: «We have an actual launch window, specified in the period from July 15 to August 3, and we managed through this window to The launch of the H2A missile that carries the probe was successfully launched, adding that the team developed for each day of this window, its plans and special scenarios, and the launch, separation and initial contact times for the probe differ every day. These scenarios were studied and tested before launch, and based on these plans and these scenarios it We were not significantly late in launching, so it will not affect the date the scientific mission of the probe begins.
He stressed that the practical mission of the probe will start on the specified date, next February, and this date depends on the work of the team who can plan to start this mission, as it can determine the time when the probe reaches its Martian orbit or arrives in a specific period, depending on the use of the supplied fuel With the probe, pointing out that if the probe completes its mission, it will be inserted into the orbit of probes whose mission has ended.
He pointed out that the earth station team will work around the clock during the next two weeks, within the shift system, to follow up the probe on its way to Mars, and it is expected that this period will be reduced to one week only, in case things go according to the work plan that was developed earlier, He should then be contacted two to three times for a period of six or seven hours per week, depending on the assessments that occur during the coming days.
coronation
The moment the first signal was sent to the probe about 70 minutes after leaving the launch pad was one of the most important moments, which was awaited by the staff of the earth station at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, as it culminated years of research and development and various tests to form a comprehensive scientific knowledge program that became a map for creating solutions and development Logistical, engineering and scientific systems and processes for future national space projects.
Different technology
It is noteworthy that deep space technologies and dealing with very distant space distances are different and make the operations of communication with the probe and receive data and coordinates from it a delicate process that requires software and communication systems different from those within the normal satellites that exist in the orbit of the planet. The probe team at the earth station inside the country had developed a two-way communication with radio waves with the probe to overcome the challenge of the infinitely far distances it would travel on Mars.
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A thousand kilometers traveled by the "Probe of Hope" from its launch until 1 pm yesterday.
The Earth Station team works around the clock during the next two weeks to follow the probe.