Watch Live As Hope Mars Probe Enters Orbit in First of Three Red Planet Missions This Month

Watch Live As Hope Mars Probe Enters Orbit in First of Three Red Planet Missions This Month

This month, three Mars missions will arrive at their destination—and you can watch the first one enter the Red Planet's orbit live online.The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)—led by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in collaboration with several U.S. research institutions—is expected to enter the Red Planet's orbit on February 9, 2021, at 10:41 a.m. ET.If you would like to follow the event, the EMM website will be hosting a broadcast of the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) event, with the stream starting at 9 a.m. ET on February 9.

The mission involves an orbiter named "Hope" ("Al Amal" in Arabic) that will spend one Martian year—equivalent to around two years on Earth—in orbit around the Red Planet.The aim of the interplanetary mission—the first undertaken by an Arab nation—is to provide a complete and unprecedented picture of the Martian atmosphere and its layers.Scientists hope data collected by the mission will shed light on key questions regarding the global Martian atmosphere and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases into space, as well as the weather dynamics of the planet.This data will provide insights into planetary evolution, while also enabling improved weather forecasting, which will benefit