UAE eyes Mars mission
Mission to help researchers analyse Martian atmosphere with help of unmanned probe named al Amal
PHOTO: WAM
The United Arab Emirates on Wednesday unveiled the details of its Mars mission, UAE daily Gulf News reported.
According to the engineers involved in the project, the mission will help researchers analyse the Martian atmosphere with the help of an unmanned probe named al Amal (Hope), which will be launched in 2021.
“Our science mission is to produce the first ever truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere,” Emirates Mars Mission Project Manager Omran Sharaf has said. “This is the first holistic study of the Martian climate and how the layers of atmosphere fit together.”
A team composed of 150 scientists and engineers, who are all UAE nationals, will work on the mission.
"We have to be ready by [July 2020]. There is no second chance. It's a race against time," Sharaf said. The spacecraft will be launched in the nose cone of a rocket. The journey to Mars will take around seven months.
These details were disclosed in an event attended by top UAE officials, including the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
“We will model the connections between all the different components of the Martian climate including all the temperatures, winds, dust, and clouds,” Deputy Project Manager Sarah Amiri said.
The data that will be sent to earth from the probe will be made available to 200 universities and research institutes. “Scientists on Earth will use the data that will be sent by the probe to build a complete dynamic picture of the Martian climate. This is something that has never been seen before,” Sharaf said.
The UAE’s plan to send an unmanned probe in 2021 was first announced in July last year. A space agency was created after that to plan over the next six years, and then execute, the seven- to nine-month journey to Mars.
The oil-rich gulf country’s investments in space technologies exceed $5.44 billion.
According to the engineers involved in the project, the mission will help researchers analyse the Martian atmosphere with the help of an unmanned probe named al Amal (Hope), which will be launched in 2021.
“Our science mission is to produce the first ever truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere,” Emirates Mars Mission Project Manager Omran Sharaf has said. “This is the first holistic study of the Martian climate and how the layers of atmosphere fit together.”
A team composed of 150 scientists and engineers, who are all UAE nationals, will work on the mission.
"We have to be ready by [July 2020]. There is no second chance. It's a race against time," Sharaf said. The spacecraft will be launched in the nose cone of a rocket. The journey to Mars will take around seven months.
These details were disclosed in an event attended by top UAE officials, including the Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
“We will model the connections between all the different components of the Martian climate including all the temperatures, winds, dust, and clouds,” Deputy Project Manager Sarah Amiri said.
The data that will be sent to earth from the probe will be made available to 200 universities and research institutes. “Scientists on Earth will use the data that will be sent by the probe to build a complete dynamic picture of the Martian climate. This is something that has never been seen before,” Sharaf said.
The UAE’s plan to send an unmanned probe in 2021 was first announced in July last year. A space agency was created after that to plan over the next six years, and then execute, the seven- to nine-month journey to Mars.
The oil-rich gulf country’s investments in space technologies exceed $5.44 billion.