The "Probe of Hope" was announced to have passed 100 million kilometers on its way to Mars
Mohammed bin Rashid: The next stage requires directed scientific investment in our human wealth
Two pictures taken by the "Hope Probe" with a star-tracking camera, from the source
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His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, announced that the "Hope Probe" has traveled about a fifth of the planned distance to the Red Planet, a month after its launch on its historic journey to Mars, as the first mission to explore outer space led by Arab country.
Vice President of the State: - "In less than 170 days, we will celebrate the entry of the Emirati probe into the orbit of the Red Planet." - "The Emirates Mars Exploration Project makes a quantum leap in the sectors of the space industry in the country." |
His Highness published on his official account on the Twitter site a picture taken by the “Hope Probe” using the star tracking device, tweeting His Highness, saying: “Today the probe has exceeded 100 million km in its journey to the red planet ... Mars is in front of us, and Saturn and Jupiter are behind us as in the pictures .. Arrival Expected February 2021, God willing ... and preserve it ... and his success ... reaching our goals requires that we not turn.
His Highness said: "In less than 170 days, we will celebrate, God willing, the entry of the Emirati probe into the orbit of the Red Planet, and the UAE will make an amazing chapter in the history of the Martian missions in the world."
His Highness added: "The UAE project to explore Mars will make a quantum leap in the sectors of the space industry in the UAE ... and will open new scientific horizons towards other space missions."
His Highness pointed out that "the next stage in our development process requires directed scientific investment in our human wealth ... We want Emirati minds to lead us to the future through the gateway to scientific and knowledge excellence."
Yesterday, the Emirati "Hope Probe" ended more than 20% of the distance it is scheduled to travel to reach its orbit in the "Red Planet", after it had passed 100 million kilometers, during a period not exceeding 35 days since its launch on July 20, while what remains in front of it. Another 393.5 million kilometers it will travel over the next six months, to settle into its specific orbit, which will be an elliptical orbit.
According to the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, during its space flight, the probe changes its position from time to time, in order to direct its solar panels towards the sun in order to charge its batteries, and re-direct its wave detector towards the planet, in order to maintain contact with the Operations and Control Center.
- "The Hope Probe" always determines its precise location in order to be able to communicate with the planet. - "The Hope Probe" finishes 20% of its journey to the Red Planet in 35 days. |
The probe permanently determines its precise location in space, in order to be able to communicate with the planet, by directing its sensor towards the Earth, and for this reason the probe relies on sensors to track the stars, using the patterns of stellar clusters, in what is very similar to the method used by the Bedouins or sailors in ancient times Time to infer their path.
According to the schedule, at the beginning of 2021, the probe will get very close to Mars, and this will be a crucial moment in which to hold the breath of the project officials and millions of its followers, as the probe will have to use its propellers as brakes to slow its speed, preparing to enter the orbit of Mars, and the difficulty of this lies The moment that the probe at that time would be so far away that the radio signals would be delayed from 13 to 20 minutes to reach the planet, which makes the process of instantaneous control of the probe impossible, and for this reason the probe software was designed to be as self-controlling as possible, capable To take the decision to correct its course without the need for any immediate human intervention.
Once the "Hope Probe" reaches its final station on Mars, it will take an elliptical orbit around the red planet, at an altitude of between 20 thousand and 43 thousand kilometers, during which the probe will take 55 hours to complete its first full orbit around Mars.
The orbit chosen by the Emirates Mars Exploration Team is very innovative and unique, as it will allow the "Hope Probe" to provide the global community with the first-ever image of the dynamics and weather of the planet Mars 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
With each orbit shift, the probe will be able to track the different locations from its lower and upper orbits, and eventually, data will be collected to form an integrated picture of those sites over a 24-hour period (day and night), but it may require three orbital rotations for any specific location for Full day cycle data accumulation.
The Emirates Mars Exploration Project stated that the "Hope Probe" will pass through four stages, from its launch until the end of its specified missions, the first of which is the space flight that began from the day it was launched last July until the beginning of 2021, then the stage of reaching its orbit on Mars, which is expected in Next February, to start after that the third stage, which is the start of its scientific missions that will continue over a period of two years, followed by the last stages of the probe's schedule, devoted to the so-called "extended scientific processes" that will continue until 2024.
The project explained that the mission of the "Hope Probe" on the Red Planet has a specific time period of up to "two Martian years," equivalent to four Earth years, as a year on the planet equals 365 days, which is the journey that the Earth takes to revolve around the sun one cycle, while In the case of Mars, since it is farther from the sun, it takes a longer time to orbit around the sun, reaching 687 Earth days.
The Hope Probe aims to achieve three main strategic goals, the first is to improve the quality of life on Earth through the discovery of Mars, as it is the planet most similar to Earth, and the second is to raise the level of national cadres and competencies in the field of space exploration and build scientific knowledge for the future economy, while the latter is to encourage cooperation The international team is exploring Mars, to answer questions addressed by previous missions.
6 precise scientific tasks
During the presence of the "Hope Probe" on Mars, it will carry out six precise scientific tasks, including building a deeper understanding of climate changes on the surface of Mars, drawing a map that shows the nature of its current weather by studying the lower layer of its atmosphere, and monitoring weather phenomena (such as dust storms and changes In temperature), the study of the effect of climate changes in the formation of the phenomenon of the escape of oxygen and hydrogen gases from its atmosphere by studying the relationship between the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere. The list of tasks also includes creating the first global picture of how the atmosphere of Mars changes during the day and between the seasons, revealing the causes of surface erosion on Mars and searching for links between today's weather and the ancient climate of the red planet, provided that the probe, by accomplishing these tasks, helps to know whether there is a possibility of life on The surface of Mars, what is the future of planet Earth, and how can life be preserved there.