First Image Of Mars Taken By UAE’s ‘Hope’ Probe

On Sunday, the national space agency said that UAE’s “Hope” probe has taken and sent the first photo of Mars, days after the spacecraft successfully enter its orbit.

According to the statement, the image “captured the largest volcano in the solar system, Olympus Mons, emerging into the early morning sunlight.”

According to the details, the picture was captured from an altitude of 24,700 kilometers (15,300 miles) above the Martian surface on Wednesday.

UAE Prime Minister and Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum shared the colored photo of Mars on Twitter.

“The first picture of Mars captured by the first-ever Arab probe in history,” he wrote.

من ارتفاع ٢٥ ألف كم عن سطح الكوكب الأحمر .. أول صورة للمريخ بأول مسبار عربي في التاريخ

The first picture of Mars captured by the first-ever Arab probe in history, 25,000 km above the Red Planet’s surface pic.twitter.com/Qgh2Cn3JPF

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) February 14, 2021

What Is The Hope Probe?

It is the first Arab interplanetary mission designed to orbit Mars and provide the first-ever complete image of the Martian atmosphere.

According to details, the hope probe will examine the dynamics of the Martian atmosphere. It will provide a complete view of the Mars atmosphere and will examine the queries such as oxygen gases into space.

Hope Probe is likely to collect more than 1,000 GB of new data which will be shared with more than 200 academic and scientific institutions around the world for free.

Scientists will be able to get a deep knowledge about the past and future of the earth as well as human settlement on Mars and other planetary objects by studying Martian weather thoroughly.

Mars rotates on its axis, completing one rotation, every 24.6 hours. Martian days are called Sols (short for the solar day). Hope Probe will orbit Mars for one whole Martian year that lasts 669.6 sols or equivalent to 687 Earth days or about two Earth years.

Emirati engineers who coordinated with American engineers and scientists at three US universities, including the University of Colorado, University of California Berkeley, and Arizona State University, created the Probe. According to Gulf News, here is the timeline of the development of Hope Probe.

Hope Probe Timeline

2014- Announcement of the mission
2015 – Preliminary design
2016 – Review of preliminary
2017 – Critical design review
2018 – Development and assembly

2019 – Testing
2020 – Launch and cruise
2021 – Mars orbit and science operations (until 2023)
2024 – Extended science operations

It is expected to begin transmitting more information back to Earth in September 2021, with the data available for scientists around the world to study.