“2021-2-9 will be a feast for us and the Arabs”

Mohammed bin Rashid announces the date of the arrival of the "Hope Probe" to its orbit around Mars

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His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, announced in a tweet on his Twitter account the date of the arrival of the Hope Probe to its orbit in the Red Planet, on February 9, 2021.

His Highness said in his tweet: “After 111 days have passed since the launch of the (Hope probe) journey to Mars, which covered 290 million km ... Today, the (Hope probe) performed the last modification of its course.

Today we announce the exact arrival date of the red planet 9-2-2021, God willing, at 7:42 pm, which will be a feast for us ... and for the Arabs.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, Chairman of the Executive Council and Chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, confirmed that the “Hope Probe” successfully continues its historic journey to the Red Planet, registering a new milestone in the record of the UAE’s achievements, which extends from the earth. To space.

His Highness said, “The mission of the probe, which will reach its orbit around the Red Planet on February 9, 2021, culminates in a journey that extended to 50 years of foundation, building, empowerment and the accumulated achievements of the UAE since the declaration of the Union in 1971. It is also the beginning of another 50 years of Qualitative achievements based on science, knowledge and innovation in new fields, in which we challenge the impossible, overcome it, and turn it into opportunities. Our country does not know the impossible, and our leadership does not satisfy itself or its people except in the first place.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed affirmed that «the arrival of the (Hope probe) to Mars, in conjunction with the state’s celebration of its golden jubilee, is just the beginning of the next 50 years. There are ambitious projects in all fields, after we have qualified national cadres capable of achieving a vision and ambition. Leadership in the space sector, which is expanding and growing in a sustainable way, and other promising sectors. ”

His Highness added that “the UAE project to explore Mars (the Hope Probe) succeeded, before the probe reached its orbit around the Red Planet, in instilling a new culture in the hearts and minds of the sons and daughters of the nation, that science is the future, and that our country's ambition has no limit after it penetrated space. And we became the first Arab country to succeed in planet exploration. Our country also became a member of the Mars Explorers Club, which includes only seven countries.

His Highness affirmed that "the UAE’s arrival to Mars as the fourth country in the world to achieve this historic achievement, places a great responsibility on future generations to continue the march of progress."

He praised the efforts of the Emirates Exploration Mars project team, saying: “I thank you for your effort, perseverance, perseverance and dedication, after you put the success of this project at the forefront of your priorities, despite the exceptional circumstances that the world is going through, and you have accomplished this mission so far with success that exceeds expectations, and we will celebrate together - if desired. God - On the ninth of next February, when the probe will reach its orbit. ”

Third maneuver

Yesterday, the "Hope Probe" team successfully completed the third maneuver to direct the probe's path, which took place from the ground control station at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center.

The maneuver falls under a series of path-guiding maneuvers, and are major and important stations in the probe's journey to the Red Planet, after it has covered 60% of the distance (equivalent to 290 million kilometers) since its launch on July 20, that is, within 111 days.

It has 189 million kilometers remaining until it reaches its scheduled orbit around Mars.

After the success of the maneuver, the arrival of the "Hope Probe" was determined to reach its orbit around Mars on February 9, 2021, at 7:42 pm UAE time.

15 thousand hours of work

Since the successful launch of the "Hope Probe" from the Tanegashima Space Base in Japan on July 20, the work team continues to follow the probe carefully, and it has spent more than 15,000 hours of work, and throughout this period of about 111 days since its launch, the control operations team at the station The ground communicated with the probe two to three times a week, and each contact lasted from six to eight hours, noting that the team returned to communicate with the probe over a period of 24 hours in preparation for its arrival in the orbit of Mars.

This is the third stage of the probe's historic mission of six stages until it reaches its scientific orbit around the Red Planet.

Following the successful launch on July 20, the probe has already completed two different stages, namely the launch and early operations phases.

The early operations phase is one of the most important stages of space missions, and it begins at the end of the launch phase, and lasts about 45 days, and was successfully completed.

During the early operations phase, the probe was subjected to monitoring through continuous communication with the ground station 24 hours a day by the operations team, to ensure that the spacecraft and all its components and systems worked optimally.

The stage of the flight to Mars

The probe is currently undergoing the flight phase to Mars, where the operations team at the ground station at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai monitors the state of the probe periodically.

This stage is the stage of normal operations, where contact is made with the spacecraft two to three times a week, to work on pre-set plans, and to ensure the safety of the vehicle.

This stage includes following the probe's flight path by conducting a series of guidance maneuvers.

The project team conducted two successful maneuvers in previous times, in addition to the final one, which is the third in the orbiter's trip to Mars.

Entering orbit

After the end of the journey to Mars, which the "Probe of Hope" is currently going through, the stage of entry to Mars' orbit will begin on December 29 next, as the work team at this stage will focus on preparing the probe systems and conducting the last maneuvers in preparation for entering the probe into the capture orbit around the planet. Red is safely on February 9th.

About half of the fuel in the "Hope Probe" tanks will be used to slow it down to the point that it is allowed into the capture orbit.

The fuel burning process will last for 30 minutes, to reduce the speed of the probe from 121,000 km / h to 18,000 km / h.

Due to the distance between the two planets of Mars and Earth, which results in a delay in the arrival of communications and signals from the orbit of the Red Planet (radio signals usually take between 13 to 26 minutes to reach from Mars' orbit to the earth station), the team will not be able to intervene and communicate with the probe in real time. This means that the mission of the probe at this stage is 100% independent and autonomous.

Moving to the scientific orbit

After successfully completing the stage of entering the orbit of Mars, and making sure that the probe has entered the orbit of capture, the stage of transition to the appropriate scientific orbit begins, so that the probe can perform its basic scientific tasks, and this stage lasts for weeks, in which the orbit of the probe approaches about 1000 km above the surface Mars (in the form of an elliptical orbit), and the altitude of the orbit ranges from 1,000 km to 49,380 km, and at this stage the first image of Mars will be taken and sent to the control center.

During this stage, too, preparations are made for the initial scientific processes.

The probe continues in the scientific orbit for a full Martian year (687 Earth days), and continues to collect data required to answer scientific questions about the atmospheric climate of Mars, and send it to the earth station.

Compact layout

The Minister of State for Advanced Technology, Head of the Emirates Space Agency and the leader of the scientific team of the Emirates Exploration Mars Project (Probe of Hope), Sarah bint Yousef Al-Amiri, said that the probe is continuing its historic journey with success beyond expectations, heading to its orbit around the Red Planet, thanks to the careful planning and tireless work of the team. Which received unlimited support from the leadership of the state, in translation of its vision and directions to strengthen the national space sector, by enabling the sons and daughters of the nation to contribute to the development of an economy based on knowledge and innovation, and to focus on industries based on advanced technology that can compete globally, and contribute to finding solutions to the challenges that We are going through it, which may face us in the future, in addition to the importance of diversifying and resilient economy resources based on science and technology.

She emphasized that the Emirates Mars Exploration Project (Hope Probe) is an important milestone in the history of the UAE, as its expected arrival to Mars coincides with the country's celebrations of its golden jubilee and its 50th anniversary, in a sign of profound significance confirming the leadership's determination to continue the achievements of the founding fathers and consolidate their position The state is globally in the next 50 years, with the help of national cadres, one of the best countries in the world in various fields, armed with knowledge and knowledge, and by enabling national cadres to achieve the leadership's ambition in building a future economy based on innovation and advanced technology.

She added that the expected arrival of the "Hope Probe" to its orbit around Mars opens new scientific horizons for national cadres, and turns the UAE into a knowledge-exporting country, instead of an importer of it, because the information and data that the probe will send, and will be shared with the world, has not been reached by human beings. Before.

Scientific Progress Portal

The Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori, confirmed that the launch of the probe towards Mars represents the consolidation of the Emirati future industry, and that it cut 60% of its historical journey as the first Arab mission to explore planets, cementing the UAE's position regionally and globally.

He added that «the eyes of the people of the country are heading to the day of next February 9, which is the date when the probe enters the orbit of Mars at a time when the UAE project for the exploration of Mars confirms that the UAE is investing in the future, given that space missions are the gateway to scientific progress in multiple sectors, namely An opportunity to build scientific cadres, as there is no future in the coming decades without science, as it is the main guarantor of preserving the achievements and gains, and the basic pillar for continuing sustainable development. ”

right track

The director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, Engineer Imran Sharaf, said that the probe is currently on its course towards its previously planned orbit around the Red Planet.

He pointed out that the work team had planned to implement seven guidance operations for the probe on its 493 million km journey to Mars, but the efficiency of the launch, the completion of the initial operations stage of the probe and the successful trajectory maneuvers contributed to placing the probe in a path closer to the final path, which may result. Less operations than lane-guiding maneuvers.

Sharaf added: “The current performance of the (Hope probe), and the accuracy of its trajectory, enabled the scientific team of the project to conduct measurements and record valuable scientific data that can only be obtained through space flight paths to the planets, which means that we started collecting scientific data even before entering an orbit. The capture is in February, then moving to the scientific orbit, and we will provide new scientific data to the international community at an earlier time than planned.

He continued: “The team will start the scientific mission before entering orbit around the planet using the scientific instruments carried by the probe, especially the EMUS spectrometer to record early observations about the outer hydrogen aura of the planet Mars.

We will use stellar trackers on the probe to measure the concentration of interplanetary dust as it reaches the stage of entering the orbit of Mars.

In addition to a maneuver between the (Probe of Hope) heading to Mars and the European probe (Bibi Colombo), which is heading to the planet Mercury, to provide important data on the solar system.

3 work teams

Currently, three main teams oversee the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, each team responsible for a different stage of the orbiter's journey.

The ground station team oversees the probe's control operations, and monitors communication and data flow, using an array of giant radio antennas that support interplanetary spacecraft missions.

The spacecraft team checks the performance of the subsystems on board the probe.

The operations team oversees the spacecraft operations at all stages, which include monitoring and control (loading schedule scripts), analyzing status data, and executing maneuver operations to guide the trajectory and move from one stage to another.

Vice President of the State:

"111 days after the launch of the (Hope probe) journey towards Mars, which covered 290 million km ... Today, the (Hope probe) performed the last modification of its course."

Hamdan bin Mohammed:

"The arrival of the probe to Mars in conjunction with the country's celebration of its golden jubilee is just the beginning."

"We have national cadres capable of achieving the vision of leadership in the space sector."

"The arrival of the UAE to Mars as the fifth country places a great responsibility on future generations."

Sarah Al-Amiri:

"(The Hope Probe) turns the UAE into a knowledge-exporting country instead of an importer of it."

Hamad Al-Mansouri:

"The UAE space exploration project confirms that the country is investing in the future."

Imran Sharaf:

"The probe covered 290 million kilometers in 111 days, which is equivalent to 60% of the total distance."

Follow up the probe

Space lovers and those interested in its sciences from members of the community can follow the journey of the "Probe of Hope" in real time through a renewed website that provides basic information about the progress of the mission and the various stages of this historical journey. The site is www.emm.ae.

It is noteworthy that the Emirates Mars Exploration Project (the Hope Probe) was launched six years ago, and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center implemented and supervised the design, implementation and launch stages of the probe, while the UAE Space Agency provided funding and oversight of the procedures and details necessary to implement the project.

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The team spent a thousand hours following the journey of the "Probe of Hope".

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A million kilometers separate the "Probe of Hope" from its planned orbit around the planet.

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