UAE Mars mission

Shashank Raj Gupta

Question: Consider the following statements:
(1) United Arab Emirates has launched unmanned Mars mission Hope Probe.
(2) Hope probe is Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
Of the above correct statement/s is/are:
(a) Only 1
(b) Only 2
(c) Both 1&2
(d) None of the above
Answer: (c)
Related facts:

  • The United Arab Emirates successfully launched its unmanned Mars mission named Hope Probe on July 19 2020.
  • The Hope Probe (Al Amal probe in Arabic)took off aboard H-IIA rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.
  • Hope probe is Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
  • Following a journey of several months, the probe is expected to enter the Red Planet’s orbit in February 2021, coinciding with the Golden Jubilee of the UAE.

Spacecraft and Subsystems:

  • Hope is a 1,350-kilogram satellite developed and executed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the UAE.
  • It will carry three scientific instruments mounted on one side of the spacecraft. Of these:
  • The Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) is a high resolution multiband (visible and UV) camera, the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), a far-UV imaging spectrograph, and the Emirates Mars InfraRed Spectrometer (EMIRS), and FTIR scanning spectrometer.

Objectives:

  • The Hope Probe will be the first probe to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere and its layers.
  • It will help answer key questions about the global Martian atmosphere and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases into space over the span of one Martian year.
  • It will create a global picture of how the martian atmosphere varies throughout the day and year.

Other Mars missions:

  • Hope is the first of three Mars missions scheduled to launch over the next two weeks.
  • China is expected to launch its Tianwen-1 Mars mission, which features an orbiter, lander and rover, on a Long March 5 July 23.
  • NASA will launch its Mars 2020 mission, carrying the rover Perseverance, on July 30 on an Atlas 5 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

By-Amar Mani Upadhyay

Links:
https://www.emiratesmarsmission.ae/mission/about-emm
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=EMM-HOPE
https://spacenews.com/uaes-hope-mission-on-its-way-to-mars/