A ‘$200mn gamble’: UAE Space Agency chair on its mission to Mars

A ‘$200mn gamble’: UAE Space Agency chair on its mission to Mars

In 2014 the United Arab Emirates set up a space agency and undertook to put a satellite called Hope in orbit around Mars in 2021, in time for the 50th anniversary of the small Gulf nation’s creation. For a country with no tradition and little expertise in space science and technology, the mission seemed absurdly ambitious in its scientific aims and compressed schedule.

The “$200mn gamble” has paid off handsomely, says Sarah Al Amiri, the 35-year-old computer engineer who was the project’s science lead and since 2020 has chaired the UAE Space Agency. Now that Hope has been observing Mars and analysing its atmosphere for more than a year, scientists’ initial doubts have turned to praise.

“The mission has exceeded expectations,” she says. “It’s not just me saying that. I’m quoting scientists who are not in the habit of over-exclaiming about achievements. Our coverage of different layers of the Martian atmosphere across the whole year is filling a major data gap and providing an understanding we’ve never had before.”

Since reaching orbit in February 2021, the spacecraft has been the first to observe the lights of an aurora flickering in the Martian night and to follow the evolution of a dust storm, Al