After nine satellites and a guy in space, UAE prepares to send ‘Anticipation’ to Mars
The first Arab space objective to Mars is scheduled to blast off July 15 on a objective to unravel from above the weather dynamics in the Red Planet’s atmosphere.
The unmanned probe known as Al-Amal-Arabic for Hope-is to take off from a Japanese space centre, marking the next phase in the United Arab Emirates’ ambitious space programme.
Below are a few facts and figures about the oil-rich nation’s project, which draws inspiration from the center East’s golden age of cultural and scientific achievements.
Outsize plans
The UAE, made up of seven emirates like the capital Abu Dhabi and freewheeling Dubai, has nine functioning satellites in orbit with plans to start another eight in coming years.
In September, it directed the primary Emirati into space-Hazza al-Mansouri, who was simply part of a three-member crew. They blasted off on a Soyuz rocket from Kazakhstan, returning residence after an eight-day mission where he became the primary Arab to visit the International Space Station.
But the UAE’s ambitions go well beyond that, with an objective of creating a human settlement on Mars by 2117.
For the time being, it plans to create a white-domed “Science City” in the deserts outside Dubai, to simulate Martian conditions and develop the technology needed to colonise the planet.
Under a national space technique launched this past year, the UAE can be eying future mining jobs beyond Earth and space tourism, and has signed a memorandum of understanding with Richard Branson’s space tourism business Virgin Galactic.
Hope’s journey
The next milestone is the start of the “Hope” probe, which officials say was created to inspire the region’s youth and pave just how for scientific breakthroughs.
The 1,350-kilogramme (2,970-pound) probe-about how big is an SUV-is because of blast faraway from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on July 15, but with a launch windowpane that runs until early August, based on variables like the weather.
Hope will need seven months to travel the 493 million kilometres (307 million miles) to Mars, with time to mark the 50th anniversary of the emirates’ union in 2021.
Once in orbit, a single loop will need 55 hours at the average speed of 121,000 kph, while connection with the UAE order and control centre can be limited to six to eight hours twice weekly.
The probe will stay in orbit for a complete Martian year -- 687 times.
Study and inspire
Three instruments mounted on the probe will provide a full picture of Mars’s ambiance throughout the Martian year.
The foremost is an infrared spectrometer to gauge the lower atmosphere and analyse the temperature structure.
The second reason is a high-resolution imager which will provide details about ozone levels. And the third, an ultraviolet spectrometer, is defined to measure oxygen and hydrogen amounts from a distance as high as 43,000 kilometres from the top.
Understanding the atmospheres of different planets permits a better knowledge of the Earth’s environment, officials say.
But the project can be designed to inspire a region too often beset by turmoil, and recall the heyday of scientific advances through the Middle Ages.
“The UAE wished to send a solid message to the Arab youth also to remind them of days gone by, that people used to be generators of knowledge,” Omran Sharaf, the mission’s project manager, told AFP.
