The President of the State congratulates the people of the Emirates for completing the Hope Probe

His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, congratulated the people of the United Arab Emirates, residents and the Arab nation on the success of the Hope Probe in its mission, praising the exceptional effort of the people of the Emirates who turned the dream into a reality and fulfilled the aspirations of generations of Arabs with the hope of setting a firm foot in the space race Which remained the preserve of a limited number of countries.

His Highness, the President of the State, said: "This achievement would not have been achieved without perseverance on a project whose idea appeared at the end of 2013 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, who followed him moment by moment until he arrived at his destination in peace." He also paid tribute to His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, for whom all support was made so that hope could be fulfilled and that the world sees it with us with admiration and appreciation. “All greetings are to their Highness and the national team of researchers and scholars.”

His Highness praised the project as a result of a sincere and tireless institutional effort and an ambitious vision aimed at serving the Emirati national project in particular, mankind and the scientific community in general, fulfilling the hopes of millions of Arabs to have a firm footing in the field of space exploration.

The UAE had entered history this evening as the first Arab country to reach Mars, and the fifth country in the world to achieve this achievement after the Hope Probe, within the UAE project to explore Mars, succeeded in reaching the Red Planet, capping the first 50 years since its establishment in 1971. With an unprecedented historical and scientific event at the level of previous Mars missions, as the Emirati exploratory Mars mission aims to provide scientific evidence that humans have not previously reached about the red planet.

At 7:42 pm today, the "Hope Probe" succeeded in entering the capture orbit around the Red Planet, thus accomplishing the most difficult stage of its space mission, after a trip that lasted about seven months in space, in which it traveled more than 493 million kilometers, to form its arrival to the planet Al-Ahmar in preparation for the start of his scientific mission by providing a wealth of scientific data to the scientific community in the world is a milestone in the UAE's accelerated development path, and for this achievement to be a celebration befitting the golden jubilee of the establishment of the United Arab Emirates, summarizing its inspiring story, as a country that made the culture of the impossible as a thought and approach to action And a live translation on the ground.

The UAE has become the first to reach the orbit of the Red Planet among three other space missions that will arrive this February to Mars, led in addition to the Emirates, by the United States and China.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister 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, congratulated the people of the Emirates and the Arab nation for achieving this historic achievement, as they were keen to follow the moment. The historic center from the ground control station of the Hope Probe in Al Khawaneej, Dubai.

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, praised the team of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project of young national cadres and engineers, and the efforts they made over more than six years to transform the dream Mars into a reality we celebrate today.

The greatest celebration of Golden Jubilee.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum affirmed that "this historic achievement of the arrival of the Probe of Hope to Mars is the greatest celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the UAE Federation ... and establishes for its new launch in the next 50 years.

With dreams and ambitions that have no limits, "adding His Highness:" We will continue to achieve achievements and build on them greater and greater achievements. "

His Highness pointed out that "the real achievement that we are proud of is our success in building Emirati scientific capabilities that constitute a qualitative addition to the global scientific community."

His Highness said: "We dedicate the achievement of Mars to the people of the Emirates and the Arab peoples.

Our success proves that the Arabs are able to regain their scientific standing ... and revive the glories of our ancestors, whose civilization and knowledge illuminated the darkness of the world. "

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum concluded, "Our celebration of the UAE's Golden Jubilee at the Mars station ... Our Emirati and Arab youth are invited to ride the Emirates Scientific Express, which has set off at full speed."

A sustainable scientific renaissance.

For his part, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said, "The success of the Hope probe in reaching its orbit around Mars represents an Arab and Islamic achievement .. achieved with the minds and arms of the sons and daughters of Zayed, to place the state in the ranks of the countries that I reached the depth of space, "noting His Highness," the arrival of the UAE to Mars celebrates the course of the fifty years, befitting the experience of our country and reflects its true image to the world. "

His Highness added: "The UAE project to explore Mars paves the way for 50 new years of sustainable scientific renaissance in the UAE."

His Highness expressed his pride in this historic Emirati and Arab achievement, which was led by national cadres of Emirati scientists and engineers, stressing that: “The UAE’s true and most valuable wealth is the human being… and the nation’s investment in its sons and daughters constitutes a fundamental pillar in all our policies and development strategies.”

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said: “Emirati youth, armed with knowledge and knowledge, will lead our development and renaissance for the next fifty years ... and the Emirates Mars Exploration Project has contributed to building highly qualified Emirati cadres qualified to achieve more achievements in the space sector.”

A space-sized achievement.

In the same context, 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, said, "The success of the Al-Amal probe in its historic space journey to its orbit around the Red Planet is an Emirati and Arab achievement of the size of space." His Highness affirmed that "the Emirates Mars Exploration Project marks a new chapter in the record of the UAE's achievements in the field of space sciences on a global level, and supports the country's efforts in building a sustainable knowledge economy based on advanced technological industries."

His Highness congratulated His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, "may God protect him", His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, on this achievement, pointing out that "the UAE's celebration of its fiftieth anniversary has become Coupled with reaching Mars ... and this achievement places a great responsibility before future generations who will build on it for the next 50 years. "

Follow a million.

Millions of people in the UAE, the Arab world and the world watched with anticipation the historical moment of the Hope Probe entering the capture orbit around Mars, through huge live coverage carried by television stations, websites and social media platforms, as part of a major event organized in Dubai in the vicinity of Burj Khalifa, the tallest building ever built The human being in the world, which, along with the main landmarks in the country and the Arab world, was covered in the color of the red planet, in order to follow the decisive moments of the arrival of the probe, in the presence of international news agencies, representatives of the media, local and regional news sites, and an elite group of officials and members of the UAE project team to explore Mars, "The Probe of Hope."

The event included many paragraphs that shed light on the UAE project to explore Mars from idea to implementation, the UAE's journey with the dream of space and how to achieve it through the rehabilitation and preparation of Emirati scientific cadres with a great deal of experience and competence.

The event also witnessed a dazzling laser display on the front of the Burj Khalifa, which was implemented with high-level technology, showing the journey of the Hope Probe, the stages that the project went through, and the efforts of Emirati cadres who participated in the realization of this dream.

Presentation and informational meeting.

Her Excellency Sarah bint Yusuf Al-Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Emirates Space Agency, gave a detailed presentation in Arabic and English of the most important stage of the Hope Probe journey, which is the stage of entering the Mars orbit, as it is the most important and most dangerous, and is considered decisive in the future. The expeditionary mission.

The event included a media meeting between a number of members of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project "Probe of Hope", led by His Excellency Sarah Al Amiri, and representatives of local, regional and international media, which dealt with various aspects of the project and the challenges it went through, leading to the achievement of this historic achievement, as well as shed light on The Mars mission of the probe with scientific goals unprecedented in human history, and the next stages that the probe will pass throughout its mission to explore the Red Planet over a full Martian year equivalent to two Earth years.

The event included direct video communication with the operations team and engineers at the ground control station at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in Al Khawaneej, Dubai, where Eng. Omran Sharaf, Director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project "The Hope Probe", presented the latest updates and developments, first-hand, regarding the route The Hope probe in the final minutes of its journey in preparation for entering Mars orbit.

The success of the stage of entering the capture orbit.

The decisive moments of the stage of entering the capture orbit around the red planet began at 7:30 pm UAE time, with the Hope Probe autonomous, according to the programming operations that the work team had previously conducted before its launch, to start operating its six reverse propulsion engines "Delta." In "to slow his speed from 121 kilometers to 18 thousand kilometers per hour, using half the fuel he was carrying, in a 27-minute operation."

The fuel burning process ended at 7:57 pm, so that the probe could safely enter the capture orbit, and at 8:08 pm the earth station in Al Khawaneej received a signal from the probe for the successful entry stage into Mars orbit, so that the UAE wrote its name in prominent letters in the history of space missions to explore the planet the Red.

With its success in completing the stage of entry into the capture orbit around Mars, the Hope probe has completed four major stages in its space journey since its launch on July 20, 2020 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan on board the H2A missile, which are in order: the launch stage, and the stage Early operations, the navigation stage in space, and the entry stage into orbit.

It has two phases remaining before it: the transition to the scientific orbit, and finally the scientific stage, where the probe begins its exploratory mission to monitor and analyze the climate of the Red Planet.

Day one of "hope" about Mars.

With the success of the stage of entering the capture orbit, the Hope probe began its first day around Mars, and the ground station team was able to communicate with the probe to ensure that this stage, which was the most accurate and dangerous stage of the space mission, did not affect the probe and its subsystems and scientific devices that it carries .

According to what is planned, this process may take from 3 to 4 weeks, during which the team will be in constant contact with the probe 24 hours a day, through successive shifts, noting that the probe will be able during this stage to take the first picture of Mars within a week of its arrival. Successfully to orbit capture.

Moving to the scientific orbit.

After ensuring the efficiency of the probe and its subsystems and scientific equipment, the project team will start the implementation of the next stage of the probe's journey, which is to move to the scientific orbit through a set of operations to guide the probe's path to transport it to this orbit safely, using more fuel that the probe carries on board, and it will follow. This is precisely monitoring the location of the probe to ensure that it is in the correct orbit, and after that, comprehensive calibration processes for the probe systems (original and subsidiary) will be performed, similar to those that the team had conducted after the launch of the probe on the twentieth of last July, and the calibration operations may extend and reset The probe systems are about 45 days, as each system is calibrated separately, noting that each communication process with the probe at this stage takes between 11 to 22 minutes due to the distance between the two planets of Earth and Mars.

The scientific stage.

After the completion of all these operations, the last stage of the probe's journey begins, which is the scientific stage scheduled to begin next April. The Hope probe will provide the first complete picture of the climate of Mars and the weather conditions on its surface throughout the day and between the seasons of the year, which makes it the first observatory. Aerial of the Red Planet.

The mission of the probe will continue for a full Martian year (687 Earth days), extending until April 2023, to ensure that the three scientific devices that the probe carries on board monitor all the required scientific data that humans have not previously reached about the climate of Mars, and the mission of the probe may extend for a year Another Martian, if required, to collect more data and reveal more secrets about the red planet.

The Hope Probe carries three innovative scientific devices on board, capable of conveying a comprehensive picture of the climate of Mars and its various layers of atmosphere, thus giving the global scientific community a deeper understanding of the climate changes that the Red Planet is witnessing and studying the causes of the erosion of its atmosphere.

These devices, which are a digital exploration camera, an infrared spectrophotometer and an ultraviolet spectrophotometer, monitor everything related to how Mars weather changes throughout the day and between the seasons of the Martian year, in addition to studying the causes of the disappearance of hydrogen and oxygen gases from the upper layer of the Martian atmosphere. , Which constitute the basic units for forming water molecules, as well as investigating the relationship between the lower and upper layers of the atmosphere of Mars, and observing weather phenomena on the surface of Mars, such as dust storms, and temperature changes, as well as the diversity of climate patterns according to the various topography of the planet.

The Hope probe will collect more than 1000 gigabytes of new data on Mars, to be deposited in a scientific data center in the UAE, and the scientific team of the project will index and analyze this data that will be available to humanity for the first time, and then share it for free with the scientific community interested in science. Mars around the world in order to serve human knowledge.

The Golden Jubilee Project.

The journey of the UAE project to explore Mars "Probe of Hope" actually began as an idea seven years ago, through an exceptional ministerial retreat called by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on Sir Bani Yas Island in late 2013, where His Highness led an intellectual storm with members The Cabinet and a number of officials presented with them a number of ideas to celebrate the golden jubilee of the union in the year, and the retreat on that day adopted the idea of ​​sending a mission to explore Mars, as a bold project, and an Emirati contribution to the scientific progress of mankind, in an unprecedented way.

This idea turned into reality when His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, may God protect him, issued in 2014 a decree establishing the Emirates Space Agency, to start work on a project to send the first Arab probe to Mars, which was called the "Hope Probe" , So that the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center will implement and supervise the design and implementation phases of the probe, while the agency funds the project and oversees the necessary procedures for its implementation.

A challenging experience.

Over the course of more than six years of work on the "Hope Probe", designed, implemented and constructed from scratch, the project witnessed numerous challenges, surpassing them represented an added value to it.

The first of these challenges was the completion of the historic national mission to design and develop the probe within 6 years, so that its arrival coincides with the state's celebrations of its fiftieth national day, while similar space missions take between 10 and 12 years to be implemented, as the Al-Amal probe team succeeded from high national cadres. Efficiency in this challenge, transforming the unlimited support of wise leadership into an additional incentive that motivated them to do more.

There was a new challenge represented in how to transport the probe to the launch station in Japan in conjunction with the global outbreak of the new Corona virus "Covid 19", which resulted in the closure of airports and ports around the world, and the placing of strict restrictions on movement between countries as part of the precautionary measures to combat the outbreak of the virus. And the work team had to set alternative plans to move the probe on time in light of this emerging challenge, so that it would be ready to launch at the predetermined time in mid-July 2020, and here the team scored a new achievement in the process of overcoming challenges, as it succeeded in transferring the probe to Tanegashima station The Japanese, on a journey that took more than 83 hours by land, air and sea, and passed through three main stages, during which strict logistical measures and procedures were taken, to ensure that the probe was delivered to its final destination before launch in an ideal position.

Launch reschedule.

Then came the decisive moment that the work team had been eagerly anticipating during six years of diligent work, which is the launch moment that is set for the first hour of the morning on July 15, 2020 UAE time, but the series of challenges continued, as it turned out that the weather conditions were not suitable for the launch of the missile. The probe will be carried, for the work team to reschedule the launch date within the "launch window" that runs from July 15 to August 3, noting that the team's failure to complete the launch during this period meant that the entire mission was postponed for two years.

After careful studies of weather forecasts, in cooperation with the Japanese side, the team decided to launch the Hope probe on July 20, 2020, at 01:58 am UAE time.

For the first time in the history of space exploration missions, the countdown is repeated in Arabic, marking the launch of the Hope Probe, as hundreds of millions from the country, the region and the world follow the historical event, and everyone held their breath waiting for the decisive moments during which the missile will ascend through the Earth's atmosphere at a speed of 34 thousand kilometers per hour Pregnant with the Probe of Hope, and it is only minutes until the success of the launch is confirmed, then the probe is successfully separated from the launch rocket, and then it receives the first signal from the probe on its seven-month journey, during which it traveled more than 493 million kilometers.

The probe also received the first order from the ground control station in Al Khawaneej in Dubai to open the solar panels, operate satellite navigation systems and launch reverse propulsion systems. This effectively constituted the beginning of the probe's journey to the Red Planet.

The stages of the probe's journey in space.

The first stage of the launch process witnessed the use of solid fuel-powered missile engines, and as soon as the missile penetrated the atmosphere, its upper cover that protected the "Hope Probe" 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 which the engines of the second stage would place 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 Hope probe moved to the second stage of its journey, known as the early operations stage, in which a series of pre-prepared commands began to operate the "probe of hope."

These operations included activating the central computer, operating the thermal control system to prevent fuel freezing, opening the solar panels and using the sensors designated to determine the position of the sun, after which the maneuver to 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 to send a series of data, which is the first signal that reaches the planet, and this signal was captured by the deep space monitoring network, especially the station located in the Spanish capital, Madrid.

Guide the path of the probe.

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 managed to direct it to be on the best path towards the Red Planet. 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 third stage of the "Probe of Hope" journey began through a series of normal operations. The team communicated with the probe through the ground control station two to three times a week, each lasting between 6 to 8 hours. .

On the eighth of last November, the team of the Hope Probe successfully completed the third trajectory directing maneuver, following which the time for the probe to reach Mars' orbit was determined on February 9, 2021 at 7:42 pm UAE time.

It was also during this stage that the work 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 make sure that they were ready to work once they reached Mars.

With the end of this stage, the "Hope Probe" approached Mars, to begin the most important and dangerous stage of its historic mission to explore the Red Planet, which is the stage of entering the orbit of Mars.

The hardest minutes.

The entry stage into Mars' orbit, which took 27 minutes before the probe successfully reached its specified orbit around the red planet, is one of the most difficult and dangerous stages of the mission. This stage is known as the "blind minutes", as it was controlled automatically without any interference from the earth station. The probe throughout this time on its own.

At this stage, the team focused on inserting the Hope Probe into the capture orbit around Mars safely, and in order to successfully complete this mission, half of the fuel in the probe tanks was burned to slow it down to the extent that it could be inserted into the capture orbit, and the fuel burning process continued using engines. Reverse propulsion / delta in / for 27 minutes to reduce the speed of the probe from 121,000 km / h to 18,000 km / h, and given that it is a precise process, the control commands have been developed for this stage through a deep study by the team. They identified all the scenarios that could occur in addition to All improvement plans to have orders ready for this critical moment.

After the success of this mission, the probe entered its initial elliptical orbit, where the duration of one cycle around the planet reached 40 hours, and the height of the probe while in this orbit would range from 1000 km above the surface of Mars to 49,380 km.

The probe continues in this orbit for several weeks to re-examine and test all subsystems on board the probe before moving to the scientific stage.

Later, the sixth and final stage, which is the scientific phase, will begin, during which the "Probe of Hope" will take an elliptical orbit around Mars at an altitude of between 20,000 to 43,000 km, and the probe will take 55 hours to complete a full orbit around Mars.

The orbit chosen by the Hope Probe team is very innovative and unique, and will allow Hope Probe to provide the scientific community with the first integrated picture of the atmosphere and weather of Mars within a year.

The number of "Hope Probe" communication times with the ground station will be limited to only twice a week, and the duration of one contact ranges between 6 to 8 hours. This stage will extend for two years. During this period, the probe is planned to collect a large set of scientific data on the Martian atmosphere and its dynamics.

This scientific data will be provided to the scientific community through the Scientific Data Center of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project.

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