Young rocket scientists decode what Hope probe launch means for students

Young rocket scientists decode what Hope probe launch means for students

More than 1.5 billion people have been closely following the journey of the Arab world's first interplanetary mission.





"Beyond the sky is where our dreams start." That is what His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said when the UAE's trailblazing Hope probe crossed the one million-kilometre mark in its journey to Mars last week.

More than 1.5 billion people have been closely following the journey of the Arab world's first interplanetary mission, which made history when it launched on July 20. And they include the UAE's own aspiring space pioneers, who are celebrating the massive boost that the Mars mission has given STEM education.

Science is cool: Teen who launched experiment to space

Teenage Emirati space prodigy Alia Ahmed Al Mansoori first made headlines in 2017 when she won the Genes in Space UAE competition. Her experiment to study how exposure to space affects the health of live organisms at the cellular level was launched into space from NASA's Kennedy Space Centre that year. It was tested by astronauts on the International Space Station.

The 18-year-old is now looking to join the University of Edinburgh in the hopes of