UAE Mars mission project manager heralds age of ‘space collaboration’

UAE Mars mission project manager heralds age of ‘space collaboration’

DUBAI: After the last of three spacecrafts made contact with Mars this month, the world's newest space-faring nation is heralding a new age of "space collaboration." The United Arab Emirates made history Feb. 9 when it became the fifth country to successfully enter the Martian orbit with its Hope probe, the first interplanetary mission by an Arab nation. Scenes on the ground in Dubai were jubilant when Omran Sharaf, project manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, announced the orbit insertion was successful. Pictures of the team's engineers were then projected onto the side of the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower. It was an incredible feat considering the UAE Space Agency is less than seven years old and the average age of an Emirates Mars Mission team member is just 27. It comes at a time of heightened interest in the Red Planet. China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft celebrated its own successful orbit insertion less than 24 hours later, on Feb. 10. NASA's Perseverance Rover landed on the surface of Mars on Thursday. A week after the UAE's successful orbit insertion, Sharaf told Arab News that he is "still sleep-deprived." His team worked through the weekend to release its first image of