Emirati engineers launching the Arab world’s first mission to Mars share remarkable journey – The National

Emirati engineers launching the Arab world’s first mission to Mars share remarkable journey – The National

Two of the engineers spoke to The National from the launch site in Tanegashima Island, Japan about the challenges of completing a mission during a pandemic













Emirati engineers have told of their remarkable six-year journey to lift-off for the UAE's momentous mission to Mars - from living on a remote Japanese island to facing up to the challenges of a pandemic.



An intrepid team of eight engineers have been based in Japan since early April to prepare the Hope spacecraft for its historic launch on July 15.



The majority of the group have been working on the project since its inception in 2014 but never imagined they would have to grapple with the impact of the Covid-19 crisis.



With most of the spacecraft tests now completed, two of the engineers spoke to The National about their remarkable experience working on the mission so far.



Challenges posed by Covid-19



Omar Al Shehhi, the lead for integration and testing of the spacecraft, is one of the engineers who has been working on the mission since the start.



"We never thought a pandemic would break out in the world and we'd have to rethink about if