Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The first Emirati mission to Mars is scheduled to arrive today, Tuesday, February 9, when the “Hope Probe” is expected to send a signal at 10:42 a.m. Eastern Time, that is, around an hour. 7:42 Dubai time.
The Emirates Space Agency will share live coverage of the arrival of the “Probe of Hope” to the Red Planet, starting at 9:00 am ET on its website.
Upon the arrival of the spacecraft, the “Probe of Hope” will make the UAE the first Arab country and the fifth country in history to reach the Red Planet.
However, the mission’s ambitions do not stop there, as the probe, along with its 3 scientific instruments, is expected to capture the first complete image of the Martian atmosphere. The tools will also collect various data points on the atmosphere to measure seasonal and daily changes as well.
This information will provide scientists with an insight into the dynamics of climate and weather in different layers of the Martian atmosphere. This will allow shedding light on how energy and particles, such as oxygen and hydrogen, move through the atmosphere and even how they emerge from Mars.
The “Probe of Hope” mission is one of the three missions launched from Earth last July, including NASA’s “Perseverance” vehicle and the Chinese “Tianwen 1” mission.
The Probe of Hope will orbit the planet, while “Tianwin 1” will orbit and land on the planet, and “Perseverance” will land on Mars.
It had launched all 3 missions around the same time due to the alignment between Mars and Earth on the same side of the Sun, which makes the trip to Mars more efficient.
While the Hope Probe is the first of those missions to reach Mars, the Tianwen 1 is expected to arrive on February 10 and Perseverance on February 18.
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