BFF-04 UAE on edge as ‘Hope’ probe poised to enter Mars orbit

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BFF-04

UAE-SPACE-MARS

UAE on edge as ‘Hope’ probe poised to enter Mars orbit

DUBAI, Feb 9, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – A tense half-hour on Tuesday will determine
the fate of the UAE’s “Hope” probe to Mars, as the Arab world’s first space
mission carries out a tricky manoeuvre to enter the Red Planet’s orbit.

If successful, the probe which is designed to reveal the secrets of Martian
weather, will become the first of three spacecraft to arrive at the Red
Planet this month.

The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States all launched missions
last July, taking advantage of a period when the Earth and Mars are nearest.

The venture marks the 50th anniversary of the unification of the UAE’s
seven emirates.

Landmarks across the Gulf state have been lit up in red at night and
government accounts emblazoned with the #ArabstoMars hashtag.

Hope will begin a 27-minute “burn” at 1530 GMT to slow itself enough to be
pulled in by Martian gravity, in what Emirati officials say is the most
challenging part of the mission.

It will rotate and fire all six of its powerful thrusters to dramatically
slow its average cruising speed of 121,000 kilometres (75,000 miles) per hour
to about 18,000 kph.

With an 11-minute communications lag — the time it takes for a signal to
travel back to Earth — the spacecraft must be highly autonomous.

“Twenty-seven blind minutes will determine the fate of seven years of
work,” Sarah Al-Amiri, chairwoman of the UAE Space Agency and minister of
state for advanced technology, tweeted this week.

The “burn” will end at 1557 GMT, and at 1608 GMT the UAE will have its
moment of truth.

If all goes well, Dubai’s needle-shaped Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest
tower, will be at the centre of a celebratory show.

– 50-50 chance –

“This project means a lot for the nation, for the whole region, and for the
global scientific and space community,” Omran Sharaf, the mission’s project
manager, told AFP.

“It’s not about reaching Mars, it’s a tool for a much bigger objective. The
government wanted to see a big shift in the mindset of Emirati youth… to
expedite the creation of an advanced science and technology sector in the
UAE.”

While the probe is designed to provide a comprehensive image of the
planet’s weather dynamics, it is also a step towards a much more ambitious
goal — building a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.

Apart from cementing its status as a key regional player, the UAE also
wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for Arab youth, in a
region too often wracked by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.

“The probe has a 50 percent success rate in entering Mars’ orbit, but we
achieved 90 percent of our goals in building new knowledge,” Sheikh Mohammed
bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, UAE prime minister and Dubai’s ruler, wrote on Twitter
earlier this month.

Unlike the other two Mars ventures, China’s Tianwen-1 and Mars 2020 from
the United States, the UAE’s probe will not land on the Red Planet.

Hope will use three scientific instruments to monitor the planet’s
atmosphere, and is expected to begin transmitting data back to Earth in
September 2021, to be made available to scientists around the world.

BSS/AFP/GMR/0916 hrs