The UAE is ready to carry out any mission to bring people to the red planet

Imran Sharaf: "The Hope Probe" has successfully overcome the challenges of "Deep Space"

• The first pictures taken by the "probe" of the red planet.

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The director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, "The Hope Probe", Engineer Omran Sharaf, confirmed that the UAE has several space projects that will be announced in the future.

He told "Emirates Today": "We are ready to implement any mission that contributes to advancing the aspirations of mankind in the next stage, especially the arrival of people to Mars."

He added that the probe has covered three quarters of the distance between Earth and its Martian orbit (more than 398 million km) in six months, during which it has overcome many challenges and obstacles, and has monitored many scientific data and captured a set of pictures of deep space, either by its scientific devices or with a tracking device. stars.

He stressed that the team has high spirits and is ready to deal with any obstacles or challenges that the probe faces during its exploration mission, pointing to several steps that the team has taken since the probe was launched on July 21, and continues during its journey, to deal with any challenges it faces to ensure the success of its mission.

The probe has only 43 days left to enter its orbit around Mars (the Red Planet), to start implementing the mission to study the atmosphere of the planet, which will provide the global scientific community with information it gets for the first time.

In detail, Engineer Imran Sharaf said, in response to a question about the state of the probe, its equipment, and the obstacles it encountered during its journey: “There are only 43 days left between the probe from the start of its entry into its orbit around the red planet, and we confirm that the state of the satellite and its subsystems and three scientific devices are good and working. With high efficiency, since the launch (on July 21st) ».

He added that «the probe passed through different environments between the earth and the red planet, and faced influential factors, including the distance from the sun, the influence of the so-called solar winds, and the rays in outer space.

Therefore, the project team's focus is currently on analyzing the data that the probe collects during its journey on the environments it passes through.

It also monitors the health of its subsystems, and monitors the interaction of scientific bodies with these environments.

Sharaf confirmed that the team was able to collect scientific images and data before the probe reached its orbit, including images taken by the star tracking device, which is used to collect information about the location of the probe, in addition to other images of the red planet.

He said that the satellite monitored scientific data, including measuring the proportion of dust between the planets, and studying the hydrogen layer around the red planet before reaching it.

The team carried out a correction of the "Hope Probe" towards another probe, launched by the European Union to another planet, with the aim of studying the area between the two probes, and collecting data from them and comparing them.

He added that the team is currently working on preparing the probe to enter its orbit around the red planet, pointing out that this process is one of the most important processes that the probe is going through, because it summarizes the risks it has gone through since the construction stage.

It is also based on the need for it to enter the right orbit with a correct direction at a correct time, and follow it up after entering to make sure that it is operating in a proper manner, all within 28 minutes only.

Sharaf explained that the plan was for the probe to pass seven operations during its trip to Mars.

But after the success of the first three operations, it became possible to carry out only one more operation, before entering orbit around Mars.

Hence, the plan has been reduced from seven operations to only four, confirming the team's success in managing the probe and directing it towards the red planet.

Sharaf pointed out that the probe is exposed to a high percentage of rays in deep space, but the team conducts certain technical operations to ensure that it is not damaged by it, including ensuring the validity of the programs stored in the satellite, and that the data it uses on its own in orientation, navigation and transmission is not affected, and the hardware components are not affected. Scientific.

It continues to manage risks very professionally, ensuring the integrity of the probe.

Sharaf explained that the risks surrounding the mission of the probe still exist, as 50% of the missions sent by other countries to the Red Planet ended in failure, and the only way to deal with the possibilities of danger to ensure the success of the probe in its mission is to follow the probe and understand its working mechanism in the terrain it is currently passing through. And manage it in an effective manner, develop plans to manage risks and face any emergency problem, and make sure that the control system of the probe and its software can manage the intervention process in the event of any problem in the smart system, and the team continuously carries out several tests to ensure the effectiveness of the measures it takes , Whether on board the probe itself or on its engineering model located at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center.

He stressed that the team has high spirits, as well as its readiness to deal with any challenges, in the stage of the journey to the Red Planet.

The stages he skipped have proven that he is able to accomplish the task and manage it properly, in addition to that the team clearly understands the nature of the challenges it will face in the future regarding this task.

Sharaf said that the probe will provide a study on the relationship between the lower layer and the upper layer of the atmosphere of the planet Mars in a comprehensive manner at different times of the day, and in different seasons of the year, so that the scientific community around the world will get, for free and for the first time, a comprehensive and integrated picture of the atmosphere of the red planet At different times of the day, and in different seasons of the year.

The study will raise many questions about the red planet's atmosphere, which will need to be answered by future exploration missions.

This study is what distinguishes the Hope Probe from other Mars exploration projects that were sent by other countries, and focused on studying the atmosphere of the red planet at certain times of the day and in certain seasons of the year.

The study of the atmosphere is considered the main task of the probe, while it will perform other tasks, including collecting data on the proportion of dust between planet Earth and Mars, and it will be provided to the scientific community around the world.

Sharaf identified aspects that distinguish the Hope Probe from other probes, including that it will answer questions that scientists around the world are hungry for for answers and data about, and that it was completed in a period of time not exceeding six years, which is the least time period for building an exploration project in the world.

The approach taken by the team in carrying out the mission is a unique Emirati approach, based on international cooperation and past experiences.

Regarding the space expertise of the Emirati cadres who participated in building the probe, Sharaf stated that more than 450 people have contributed to its achievement, including 200 Emirati youth.

He said, “When we started implementing the project, there were no more than 75 Emirati engineers.

The number grew until it reached 200 Emiratis, and not all of them had experience in the space field.

Even those with space experience among them have never participated in the implementation of deep space exploration projects.

He pointed out that the average age of the team is 27 years, and among them 34% are females, and 50% of the main leaders of the mission are females, and they got their roles in the mission based on their competencies, achievements and hard work.

Sharaf stressed the role of society, especially youth, in achieving the results of the Hope Probe on the ground.

He said that the MISBAR team provides what it can provide in terms of providing data and support in terms of tools and knowledge, to different entities and sectors.

However, the other side, the community, must interact to use this data in the various sectors, after participating in the scientific workshops that the team conducts periodically to help understand the exploration mission and ways to benefit from it.

On the UAE’s ambition to be one of the first countries to send a person to the surface of Mars, Sharaf said that the UAE is ready to implement any mission that contributes to advancing the aspirations of humanity in the next stage, especially the arrival of people to Mars, pointing to the presence of several space projects in the country, which will be announced In the future.

On the realization of the results of space projects on the ground, Sharaf stated that “space projects, including the Hope Probe, have two types of results, one of which appears upon completion of these projects, and this is what we have noticed through a change in culture and interests among young people after launching a number of space projects in The state directs them to scientific and technical studies, and universities have adopted new scientific and engineering programs that serve space projects, and topics about this sector have been added in school curricula, while the second type, which is the largest and most important impact, may appear 15 or 20 years after the completion of the project, and it will be achieved This is in changing the economic system in the Emirates, in addition to creating Emirati scientists in the field of space and other basic fields.

5 ground challenges

Since its announcement six years ago, the "Hope Probe" has faced several ground challenges, most notably:

- That its construction budget be the lowest to build a probe to explore outer space.

- Building the probe by Emirati hands, in cooperation with those with experience and expertise in this field, not buying it, meaning that the project is national.

Launching within a period not exceeding three weeks only.

- The challenge of the Corona pandemic, which almost delayed the launch by two years.

The challenge of delaying the launch for five days due to the climatic conditions at the launch site on the Japanese island of Tanegashima.

Scientific platform

Eng. Omran Sharaf confirmed that the information and data will be available free of charge, through a dedicated platform.

The main part of it will be released as soon as the data is ready to be fully transmitted on the platform.

He said that it could be used through annual meetings and workshops, continuing: “Our message to the Arab youth is that if we were in the UAE in less than 50 years, we could achieve this achievement by trying to be part of the international community, and trying to learn from others. , They can provide more than that ».

An additional task

Engineer Imran Sharaf stated that the duration of the work of the probe in its orbit around Mars is two Martian years (equivalent to four years on Earth), which begins after making sure that the probe enters its correct orbit, in order to be able to complete its main mission during the first Martian year.

The team then develops the details of the additional mission that it is currently working on.

The project team is in high spirits and has several steps to ensure the success of the probe in its mission.

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Aspects that distinguish the Emirates Mars Exploration Project from other previous projects.

50%

One of the missions that other countries sent to the Red Planet ended in failure.

43

One day, the "Probe of Hope" will be separated from its orbit around the Red Planet.

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