Hope probe marks Arab world’s first interplanetary mission

Hope probe marks Arab world’s first interplanetary mission

Hope probe marks Arab world's first interplanetary mission

Hope probe marks Arab world's first interplanetary mission

Hope probe marks Arab world's first interplanetary mission

Short Url

Hope probe marks Arab world's first interplanetary mission

Mission will be the first to provide full picture of Mars atmosphere when it arrives in 2021

Updated 30 July 2020

Follow @arabnews

DUBAI: On July 20, the UAE's Hope spacecraft began its journey to Mars, taking off at 1:58 a.m. from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. It has since travelled over 2.47 million kilometers into a 493 million kilometer, seven month journey, after which it is scheduled to reach Mars in February 2021, marking the 50th anniversary of the UAE. The probe was scheduled to launch on July 15, but was delayed due to unstable weather conditions. The date of July 20 marked the third launch date for the probe.

Inside the mission's command center at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in the Al Khawaneej area of Dubai, a team of 15 take turns tracking the movement of the spacecraft.

"Nothing about Mars is easy and when it comes to sending a probe to Mars, 50 percent of the missions have already failed,“ Omran Sharaf, director of the Emirates Mars Mission's (EMM) Hope