Dubai: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, shared the latest photo of Mars taken by the UAE’s Hope Probe mission while on its way to the Red Planet.
On his Twitter page, Sheikh Mohammed said: “A photo of the planet taken by the Emirates Mars Mission while on its journey to Mars. The mission still needs 135 million km to travel and the arrival date will be February 9, 2021”.
Earlier last July, the UAE successfully launched its Mars-bound Hope Probe, marking the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission – and the first of three international missions to the Red Planet this summer.
The Hope Probe took off from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. The solid rocket booster successfully separated from the launch vehicle, and the probe has established two-way communication with the ground segment in Dubai.
The Al Amal probe, as it is called in Arabic, is expected to reach Mars by February 2021. It will be the first time the UAE has orbited Mars, and the probe will stay in orbit for a Martian year — equivalent to 687 days on Earth — to gather data about Mars’ atmosphere.