The Emirates Mars Exploration Project, “Hope Probe,” revealed that the digital exploration camera recently captured a group of images above the moon “Deimos,” from an altitude of about 400 kilometers.
The short period of time that separated the period of taking these images was about one image every minute, while this allowed for obtaining three-dimensional views of the moon, which is characterized by its small size and irregular shape.
Important data
Since the beginning of 2023, the Hope Probe has been directed to fly around the moon “Deimos”, where many images were taken that provided important data, in addition to some of the separate observations that took place of the two moons of Mars, “Phobos” and “Deimos”, during the past fifty years.
The probe moved to a new orbit that allows for unprecedented monitoring of Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars, with a series of flybys close to its orbit by about 150 kilometers, as Deimos is the less monitored and understood of the two moons of Mars, unlike its brother, Phobos. It has received a large number of observations since it was first observed in 1969. Deimos has a wider orbit than its brother, as it completes its orbit around Mars once every 30 hours.
Spectral image
The Hope Probe flew, for the first time, next to the “Demos” satellite, at the end of January and the beginning of February 2023, where instrument calibration operations were carried out to support obtaining high-definition and accurate images and observations, with its three devices, which are the digital exploration camera, the infrared spectrometer, and the ray spectrometer. Ultraviolet.
The probe succeeded in capturing the first extreme ultraviolet spectroscopic image of the Deimos moon, which contributed to identifying the surface composition and space weather factors, using the ultraviolet spectrometer, which is the most sensitive to the orbit around the red planet.
Series of maneuvers
Last March, the Hope Probe carried out a repeated series of maneuvers close to the red planet’s outer moon, Deimos, since the beginning of 2023, using a digital exploration camera, in order to collect many images while passing by the moon, and this contributed to obtaining high-quality data, It adds to observations obtained by other spacecraft over the past 50 years.
The planet Mars has two moons, “Phobos” and “Deimos,” both of which are small, irregularly shaped moons. Deimos orbits Mars every 30 hours, and given the relative rarity of spacecraft flying near Martian moons, the Hope Probe’s new observations provide an opportunity to obtain new information about the nature of the Moon.
The extension of the Hope Probe’s mission came two years after the start of the scientific mission, to reflect the great efficiency of its scientific equipment, which provided a unique opportunity to set new scientific goals for the mission, which is positioning it in a new orbit that allows for unprecedented monitoring of Deimos, the smaller of the two moons of Mars. The slight change in its orbit contributed to observing the moon, in addition to continuing its mission to collect data about the Martian atmosphere.
