The United Arab Emirates on Sunday published the first image for its Mars probe that now revolves around the Red Planet.
The photo, taken Wednesday, shows sunlight coming just over the surface of Mars. It shows Mars’ north pole, as well as its largest volcano, Olympus Mons.
The image is from the Amal, or “Hope”, space probe of the UAE.
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The probe swung in orbit around Mars on Tuesday in a triumph for the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission.
On June 1, 2020, file version provided by Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center shows the Hope / Amal Mars probe by the United Arab Emirates. (Alexander McNabb / MBRSC via AP, File)
Amal’s arrival puts the UAE in a league of just five space agencies in history that has eliminated a functioning Mars mission. As the country’s first venture outside the orbit of the earth, flight is a point of intense pride for the oil – rich nation as it seeks a future in space.
About 60 percent of all Mars missions ended in failure, crash, burning, or otherwise too short, in evidence of the complexity of interplanetary travel and the difficulty of making a descent through Mars’ thin atmosphere.
Amal’s journey has been followed for months by the UAE’s state-run media with fierce enthusiasm. Landmarks across the UAE, including Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower on earth, glowed red to indicate the expected arrival of the spacecraft. Billboards depicting Amal protrude across the highways of Dubai. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of the country, and Amal is part of the celebrations.
Dubai’s Burj Khalifa is illuminated in the form of a space rocket on February 9, 2021, while the UAE’s Al-Amal – Arab for ‘Hope’ – successfully entered Mars’ orbit, making history as the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. . (Giuseppe CACACE / AFP)
If all goes according to plan, Amal will settle in an extraordinarily high elliptical orbit of 13,670 miles by 27,340 miles (22,000 km by 44,000 km) over the next two months, exploring the atmosphere of mostly carbon dioxide around the entire planet, at all times of the day and in all seasons.
It joins six spacecraft already orbiting Mars: three American, two European and one Indian.