Emirates Mars Mission

• 1. The Cabinet Retreat That Sparked A Dream

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  In the final days of 2013, a group of UAE cabinet members gathered for a private retreat to discuss the nation's future. The conversation shifted from economic diversification to something far more ambitious: sending a probe to Mars. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, delivered three core messages during this pivotal meeting that would define the mission's spirit. He told the world that Arab civilization once played a great role in contributing to human knowledge and would play that role again. He spoke to his Arab brethren, stating that nothing is impossible and that they can compete with the greatest nations in the race for knowledge. Finally, he addressed those striving to reach the highest peaks, urging them to set no limits to their ambitions so they could even reach space. This vision became the foundation for what would eventually be named the Hope probe.

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• 2. Building A Bridge Across Oceans And Minds

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  Emirati engineers traveled thousands of miles to Boulder, Colorado, where they worked side by side with American counterparts at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. The spacecraft was assembled under the joint supervision of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre and LASP teams. Support came from Arizona State University and the University of California, Berkeley as well. Project manager Omran Sharaf led the effort while deputy project manager Sarah Al Amiri collaborated closely with these institutions to design and build the orbiter. The team included 150 Emirati engineers alongside 200 scientists and engineers at partner institutes in the United States. When the coronavirus pandemic forced schedule changes, officials dispatched 11 engineers and technicians to Japan in early April 2020. They spent two weeks in quarantine before joining six other team members who had already arrived. These personnel completed final testing inside a payload processing facility clean room at Tanegashima after navigating strict Japanese government mandates.

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• 3. The Cube That Carries Three Eyes To Mars

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  The Hope probe measures roughly 3 meters wide and 4 meters long, making it comparable in size to a small car. It carries a mass of approximately 1,500 kilograms including fuel. Two solar panels generate 1800 watts of power to charge its batteries during the journey. A high-gain antenna 1 meter in diameter produces a narrow radio wave that must point precisely toward Earth for communication. Six 120 Newton thrusters manage velocity while eight reaction control system thrusters handle delicate maneuvers. Star tracker sensors help determine position by identifying constellations relative to the Sun. The spacecraft houses three distinct scientific instruments designed to study different layers of the Martian atmosphere. The Emirates eXploration Imager captures high-resolution images with better than 8 kilometers spatial resolution using six discrete bandpass filters. The Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer measures emitted radiance from surface and atmosphere to determine temperature profiles and ice abundance. The Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer examines global characteristics of the thermosphere and traces of hydrogen and oxygen extending far into space.

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• 4. A Seven-Month Journey And A Critical Maneuver

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  The launch window opened on the 14th of July 2020, but the actual liftoff occurred on the 19th of July 2020 at 21:58:14 UTC. A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA launch vehicle carried the probe from the Tanegashima Space Center near Minamitane, Japan. The spacecraft traveled approximately 490 million kilometers over about 200 days before reaching its destination. On the 9th of February 2021, around 19:42 Gulf Standard Time, the craft began firing its thrusters to insert itself into orbit. This process took roughly 27 minutes of continuous thrust burn to complete successfully. After entering radio silence as it swung around the planet, the orbiter reported successful orbital insertion about 15 minutes later. It entered an initial 40-hour orbit before performing a periapsis raising maneuver to reach a final orbit with a 55-hour period. This timing allowed the mission to arrive at Mars before the fiftieth anniversary of UAE independence on the 2nd of December 2021.

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• 5. Mapping Weather Patterns And Atmospheric Loss

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  Scientists selected a high supersynchronous orbit with a periapse of about 20,000 kilometers and an apoapse of about 43,000 kilometers to provide a global view of Mars's atmosphere. The goal was to study daily weather cycles and seasonal changes across different geographic areas. The probe acts as the first true weather satellite at Mars, examining dust storms and other lower atmospheric events. Data helps researchers understand why Mars lost its ability to sustain liquid water over time. Scientists analyze how hydrogen and oxygen escape from the thinning atmosphere into outer space. They also investigate connections between upper and lower atmospheric levels to model Earth's own evolution. All data gained from the mission will be made available to more than 200 universities and research institutes worldwide for knowledge sharing. In April 2023, images taken during a fly-by released the first-ever close-up global views of the Martian moon Deimos.

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• 6. A Legacy Written In Orbit And On Paper

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  On the 9th of February 2021, the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country and the fifth nation overall to reach Mars. It was also the second country to successfully enter Mars's orbit on its first attempt after India. The mission cost approximately US$200 million according to Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, the UAE minister of cabinet affairs. This investment targeted both economic growth and human capital development within the nation. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced the name Hope in May 2015 after receiving thousands of suggestions from the public. The resulting mission data would be shared freely with institutions globally to foster international cooperation. An updated global map of Mars based on images from the spacecraft appeared in The New York Times in April 2023. The project aimed to enrich Emirati engineering capabilities while increasing human understanding of the Martian atmosphere through collaborative scientific inquiry.

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