Zoom in / A new image of the entire hemisphere of Mars taken by the UAE’s “Hope” probe.
Emirates mission to explore Mars
Since its arrival on Mars eight months ago, the Emirates Mars Exploration Mission has quietly begun to provide some interesting scientific data about the Martian atmosphere and weather patterns.
The probe, called “Hope,” is located in a relatively high orbit, ranging from 20,000 to 43,000 kilometers above Mars. This spacecraft allows the entire hemisphere to be seen at once. For most of this year, the Hope Probe has trained multiband imagers, infrared spectrographs, and ultraviolet spectrometers to collect data on the planet’s atmosphere and resulting weather.
The project was funded by the United Arab Emirates, and the spacecraft was developed in cooperation with several American universities, including the University of Colorado Boulder. The aim was to encourage young Emiratis to study mathematics and science and to train each other through the resulting collaboration. The probe was launched on a Japanese rocket in July 2020.
Zoom in / The Emirates Ultraviolet Spectrometer mapped the distribution of atomic oxygen in the planet’s upper atmosphere.
Emirates mission to explore Mars
One of the goals of the mission was to share the resulting data freely, and as a result, the mission was recently inaugurated Scientific data portal. New datasets are released every three months without interruption, and anyone can subscribe to access raw images and data collected through surveys in the past. This mission, which is the first Arab probe sent to Mars, is scheduled to operate in orbit around the Red Planet for at least two years.
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The Hope study has already made some interesting discoveries. For example, scientists expected to observe a uniform distribution of oxygen throughout the Martian atmosphere. Although the planet’s thin atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide, molecular oxygen is a rare gas. According to the Hope Study’s observations of oxygen in the upper atmosphere, concentrations varied by more than 50 percent. Similar differences were observed in carbon monoxide.
Scientists are now working to understand these differences, which do not fit well with current models of the Martian atmosphere.
The probe closely monitors temperatures across the surface of Mars, and serves as the first weather satellite in orbit around the Red Planet. While there are many considerations in determining initial landing sites for humans on Mars — the most important of which is the absence of rocks and hazards — understanding local weather conditions can be a valuable tool for mission planners.
Following the success of its Mars mission, the UAE Space Agency announced plans for a more ambitious probe to fly around Venus in the late 2020s and then to the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. There, the probe will track seven asteroids before attempting to land on one of them in 2033.
The study mapped the temperature of the atmosphere and tracked how hot it was in the morning.
Emirates mission to explore Mars
In this mission, the country will once again collaborate with US-based universities to help build the spacecraft and strengthen cooperation with academics in the Middle East.
Sarah bint Youssef Al Amiri, Minister of Advanced Sciences and President of the UAE Space Agency, said in a statement: “Our goal is clear: to accelerate the growth of innovation and knowledge-based projects in the Emirates.” “This cannot be done by moving to a steady state; “It requires imagination, faith, and the pursuit of unreasonable or systematic goals.”
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