In a daring, rapid swan dive from space, the first interplanetary probe of an Arab nation will orbit Mars on Tuesday, which will be closely followed in the coming days by ambitious missions to the red planet from the US and China.
The United Arab Emirates’ 1.5-tonne satellite-sized SUV, called the al-Amal, or Hope, contains three sensors designed to make the first comprehensive weather forecasts on the planet. UAE officials have said the $ 200 million mission is the cornerstone of a national effort to make science and technology pillars of the small Gulf state’s economy in anticipation of a day when oil revenues fall.
“It’s about stimulating a lot of change within the United Arab Emirates’ economy, which today, more than ever before, should have a good foundation in science,” said Sarah al-Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and Chair of the UAE space agency, said. “The best way to do that, from what we’ll been experimenting with as a nation, was a space mission.”
At the most critical moment of its 306-million-mile journey from Earth, which began in July with the launch of a Japanese rocket that lifted it into space, the Hope spacecraft would be on the shelves Tuesday around its bow screws. 27 minutes to fire to reach a stable orbit around Mars. The maneuver had to be controlled automatically by on-board computers because the 22 minutes of time in radio broadcasts between the craft and the earth made land control impossible.
“This is the first time we have used all six propellers and our entire control system,” mission project manager Omran Sharaf said at the Emirates’ Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in Dubai in advance. “My feelings? Very nervous. Extremely nervous. Worried. Afraid. But I’m also confident. Happy. Proud.”