February 9 is the deadline for the "Probe of Hope" to enter the orbit of the Red Planet and start its scientific missions
Mohammed bin Rashid and Mohammed bin Zayed review the final preparations for the first Mars mission in Arab history
Mohammed bin Rashid and Mohammed bin Zayed discussed a number of national and strategic issues.
WAM
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His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, discussed yesterday a set of national and strategic issues, and they were briefed on the latest preparations The Emirates Mars Exploration Project team, in preparation for the Hope Probe to reach the orbit of the Red Planet, in the coming days.
Vice President of the State: - "The UAE has led the Arabs to the furthest global point ... and our message is a message of hope and confidence for Arab youth." - "The success rate of the Al-Amal probe entering the orbit of Mars is 50% ... but we consider that we have achieved 90% of our goals from this project." Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi: - “The Mars exploration mission is a translation of the will to advance that characterizes our country, and it is an embodiment of our Arab and Islamic leadership.” - "The arrival of the UAE to Mars confirms that Zayed's bet and our bet on investing in people was successful." |
The Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Space Agency, Sarah Al-Amiri, gave a detailed explanation of the mission of the Hope Probe to Mars, during its final stages, marking its entry into the orbit of the Red Planet on February 9, 2021, so that the UAE will, with this achievement, be the fifth country to succeed in launching Martian missions. And the third country to reach Mars' orbit successfully from the first attempt, noting that the UAE, the United States and China are leading three exploration missions to the red planet during the month of February.
With the countdown to the arrival of the Mars “Hope Probe”, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan called on the people of the Emirates and the peoples of the Arab world to participate in this historic moment and celebrate it as the first achievement in the history of the Arab nation. It contributes to placing the Arab world on the map of knowledge excellence, and contributes to strengthening the space industries sector in the region.
The meeting was attended by: 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, His Highness Sheikh Maktoum bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, National Security Adviser.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said: “9 days separate us from entering Mars and entering history,” affirming his Highness by saying: “The UAE has led the Arabs towards the farthest cosmic point that any Arab has reached throughout history ... and our message is a message of hope and confidence for Arab youth.”
His Highness added: "The success rate of the Al-Amal probe entering Mars' orbit is 50% ... but we consider we have achieved 90% of our goals from this historic project."
On this occasion, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said: “The mission to explore Mars is a translation of the will to advance that characterizes our country, and it is an embodiment of our Arab and Islamic leadership, and through this journey we explore new horizons for the better.”
His Highness added, "The arrival of the UAE to Mars confirms that the bet of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may God rest his soul, and our bet on investing in people was successful, and that our youth are able to compete in all fields ... from earth to space." .
His Highness affirmed, "We are proud of the people of the Emirates, and that we are putting through the Hope Probe a historical imprint in the service of humanity."
The Emirati Al-Amal probe is expected to enter Mars orbit on February 9, after a seven-month journey that covered 493 million kilometers, with an average speed of 121,000 kilometers per hour.
The stage of the probe entering the orbit of the red planet is the most important and dangerous in the probe's journey, with a success rate of 50%.
The scientific mission of the Emirati Hope Probe aims to provide scientific data that was not provided by previous Mars missions, as the probe will provide the most comprehensive picture of its kind of weather conditions and climatic changes on the Red Planet and monitor the weather throughout the day and between the seasons of the Martian year extending to 687 days with calculations of planet Earth.
Since its launch on July 20, 2020 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on board the H2A missile, the Hope Probe, within the UAE project to explore Mars, has completed two phases of its six Mars mission: the launch phase and the early operations phase, which is Now on the verge of completing the third stage, which is "navigation in space", which took the longest period of time in the flight, during which it successfully conducted three precise maneuvers to guide the probe, to be on the most accurate path to reach its destination, before it began on February 9, 2021, the fourth and most difficult stage Accuracy and seriousness, which is the stage of entering the orbit of Mars, followed by two stages, namely: the transition to the scientific orbit, and finally the scientific stage, where the probe begins its intended exploration mission, which is to monitor and analyze the climate of the red planet.
The journey of the Hope Probe actually began as an idea seven years ago, through an exceptional ministerial retreat called by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in Sir Bani Yas in late 2013, where His Highness led an intellectual storm with the members of the Council in which he presented a number of ideas In preparation for the celebration of the golden jubilee of the union in 2021, the retreat at that time adopted the idea of sending a mission to explore Mars, as a bold project.
As a result, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, issued a decree in 2014 to establish the Emirates Space Agency, to start work on the project of sending the first Arab probe to Mars.
As soon as the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center received the assignment to start implementing the project, the journey to transform the dream and idea into a tangible reality began, and the work teams were formed from young national cadres, including engineers, researchers, scientists and technicians, who were keen to accomplish this historic national mission within the specified time period, which is Six years, until the arrival of the probe coincides with the state's celebrations of its fiftieth National Day.
From the first day of the project, the leadership's directive was clear, which is to manufacture the probe and not buy it ready-made, and this was a new challenge, which turned into an opportunity to inspire a generation of scientists and researchers in the field of science and technology to make a quantum leap or contribute to building a knowledge-based economy, and building the capabilities of staff The national team working in the project by training and preparing Emirati scientists to contribute in the field of space exploration, in cooperation with the international scientific partners of the project, in addition to training and preparing Emirati engineers to develop space systems, in order to prepare the necessary infrastructure for a sustainable program in the UAE to explore outer space, through Building partnerships with international bodies specialized in the field of space exploration, in addition to establishing, improving and developing scientific and engineering programs in the scientific and academic sector.
The Emirates Mars Exploration Project team at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center worked on designing, building and developing the probe and conducting the necessary tests for its devices and subsystems with global knowledge transfer partners, and it was already completed and prepared for the final testing phase before the launch in February 2020, coinciding with the establishment of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in the presence of the installation process of the last piece of the probe, which forms the last outer part of it and bears the names of the members of the Supreme Council of the Federation, Rulers of the Emirates, and the signatures of their Highnesses, and the signatures of His Highness the Guardians of the Covenants, as well as bearing the phrase: «The power of hope shortens the distance between the earth and the sky In addition to the UAE flag and slogan, "Nothing is Impossible."
Probe Al-Amal's journey, which has lasted for about seven months, has witnessed many delicate and complex operations.
In the first stage, the missile was launched rapidly away from the ground. During this stage, solid fuel-powered rocket engines were used. As soon as the missile penetrated the Earth's atmosphere, the upper cover of the missile that was protecting the "Probe of Hope" was removed.
In the second stage of the launch process, the engines of the first stage were discarded, and the probe was placed in Earth's orbit. After that, the engines of the second stage would put the probe on its path towards the Red Planet through a precise alignment with Mars.
The speed of the probe at this stage was 11 kilometers per second, or 39,600 kilometers per hour.
Then the probe moved to the third stage, known as the early operations stage, in which a series of pre-prepared commands began to operate the Hope probe, and these operations include activating the central computer, operating the thermal control system to prevent the fuel freezing, opening the solar panels and using the sensors designated to determine the position of the sun, then a maneuver begins. Adjust the position of the probe and direct the panels towards the sun, in order to start the process of charging the batteries on board the probe.
Immediately after the end of the previous operations, the "Hope Probe" began sending a series of data in the first signal that reached the planet. This signal was captured by the deep space monitoring network, especially the station located in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
As soon as the ground station in Dubai received this signal, the work team began conducting a series of checks to ensure the safety of the probe that lasted for 45 days, during which the operations team and the engineering team of the probe examined all devices, to ensure that the systems and devices on board the probe were working efficiently.
At this stage, the Hope Probe team successfully conducted trajectory directing maneuvers to make the probe on the best path towards the Red Planet, and the team succeeded in conducting the first two maneuvers: the first on August 11, and the second on August 28, 2020.
After the successful completion of my route guidance maneuver, the fourth stage of the "probe of hope" journey began, which is "navigation in space" through a series of normal operations. The team communicated with the probe through the ground control station two to three times a week, each of which ranged from duration. Between six and eight hours.
On the eighth of last November, the team of the Hope Probe successfully completed the third trajectory directive maneuver, to determine the exact date of the probe's arrival in Mars orbit, on February 9, 2021, at 7:42 pm UAE time.
During this stage, too, the team operated the scientific instruments for the first time in space, examined and adjusted them, by directing them towards the stars to ensure the integrity of their alignment angles, and to verify that they were ready to work once they reached Mars.
With the end of this stage, the "Hope Probe" approached Mars to begin the fourth stage, which is the most important and most dangerous stage of its historic mission to explore the Red Planet, which is the stage of entering the orbit of Mars.
The first integrated image of Mars' weather
The goals of the Hope Probe, upon its successful arrival in its orbit around the Red Planet, include providing an integrated picture of the Martian atmosphere for the first time in the history of Mars missions, developing a deeper understanding of climate changes on its surface, monitoring the climate conditions of the red planet throughout the day and between seasons, and monitoring Weather phenomena, such as dust storms and changes in temperature, studying the effect of climate changes in shaping the phenomenon of oxygen and hydrogen gas escaping from its atmosphere, by studying the relationship between the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere, in addition to exploring the causes of erosion of the surface of Mars, and searching for links between today's weather and climate The old red planet.
Analyzing the climate of the Red Planet will help us know whether there is a possibility of life on Mars, and explore the future of the planet, and ways to preserve life on it.
Challenge the global pandemic
After the team of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project skipped the challenge of building the Hope probe efficiently in record time, a new challenge emerged, this time in how to transport the probe to the launch station in Japan, in light of the global outbreak of the new Corona virus (Covid-19), which has arranged He must close airports and ports around the world, and put strict restrictions on movement between countries, which necessitated the development of alternative plans to move the probe, in light of this emerging challenge, in order for it to be ready for launch at the predetermined time in mid-July 2020, and the probe team succeeded in transferring it to a station Japan's Tanegashima, on a journey that lasted more than 83 hours by land, air and sea, during which precautions were taken and strict logistical measures taken, to ensure that it was delivered to its final destination before launch in an ideal position.
Successful launch
The decisive moment came, which the work team had been eagerly anticipating during six years of diligent work, which is the launch moment that was set at the first hour of the morning on July 15, 2020 UAE time, but it turned out that the weather conditions were not suitable for launching the missile that would carry the probe, to be repeated Scheduling the date within the "launch window" extending from July 15 to August 3, noting that the team's failure to complete the launch during that period meant that the entire mission was postponed for two years.
After studies of weather conditions, in cooperation with the Japanese side, the team decided to launch the "Hope Probe" on July 20, at 01:58 am UAE time.
- The UAE is the fifth in history to reach the red planet, if the probe succeeds in entering its orbit.
The UAE, the United States and China lead 3 exploration missions to Mars, during the month of February.
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