Who said that only Americans (NASA), Europeans (ESA and Roscosmos), or Japanese people (JAXA) are capable of exploring the wonders of the Cosmos? The Arab world also has very ambitious plans when it comes to interplanetary missions. UAE is preparing a trip to the most controversial planet from our Solar System besides Earth. Mars’ orbit will be visited soon due to the ‘Hope Mars Mission’ that shall begin on July 15.
The orbit of Mars shall be reached in February 2021, if all goes according to the plan. Among the goals, the Arab astronomers want to gather more info about what caused the Red Planet’s atmospheric loss, like the disappearance of hydrogen and oxygen.
It’s about the future and survival of the entire Middle East
Although it may sound exaggerated, this is what the leaders of the project are claiming. The mission doesn’t imply landing on Mars, but only staying on our neighboring planet’s orbit for a whole Martian year to scan it for achieving data. The United Arab Emirates has been preparing this mission since 2014
Sarah al-Amiri, the deputy project manager and minister for advanced sciences, declared:
We are studying a planet that looks as if it was very similar to our own, but has undergone some form of change to the point it can no longer have water, one of the major building blocks of life,
For instance, if there is a major dust storm on Mars does that increase the rates of escape of hydrogen and oxygen?
All the data gathered by the Hope Mars Mission will be provided to 200 research institutes and be part of the work for other space missions, including NASA’s.
We cannot be otherwise but very excited for the upcoming mission of UAE, considering that other Asian countries are at least as much motivated to explore space. We can mention Japan’s JAXA space agency with the work for the International Space Station, and China with its own Mars mission that begins in July (entitled ‘Tianwen-1’).