DUBAI, UAE (AP) – A UAE spacecraft would orbit Mars on the Arabian world’s first interplanetary mission on Tuesday, the first of three robotic explorers to reach the red planet the following week and a half .
The orbit, called Amal, in Arabic for hope, traveled 300 million kilometers in almost seven months to reach Mars with the goal of mapping its atmosphere throughout each season.
A combined orbiter and a lander from China are very close, expected to arrive on the planet on Wednesday. Mars will circulate until the rover separates and attempts to land on the surface in May to look for signs of ancient life.
A U.S. rover, called Perseverance, joins the crowd next week, aiming for a landing on February 18th. It will be the first stage of a ten-year European-American project to return the rocks from Mars to Earth for examination. evidence that the planet once housed microscopic life.
Approximately 60% of all Mars missions have ended in failure, crashed, burned or fell short in a testament to the complexity of interplanetary travel and the difficulty of making a descent through the fine atmosphere of Mars. .
If it succeeds, China will become the second country to successfully land on Mars. The United States has done this eight times, the first almost 45 years ago. A NASA rover and lander are still working on the surface.
For the UAE, it was the country’s first adventure beyond Earth’s orbit, making the flight a matter of intense national pride.
For days, UAE landmarks, including Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower on Earth, shone red to mark Amal’s expected arrival. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the country’s founding, which drew even more attention to Amal.
The celestial weather station aimed for an exceptionally high Martian orbit 22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers (13,670 miles by 27,340 miles). It was planned to join six spacecraft already operating around Mars: three Americans, two Europeans and one Indian.
Amal was expected to perform an intricate series of engine twists and turns to maneuver in orbit and achieve what had so many times eluded.
“Anything that goes slightly wrong and you lose the spacecraft,” said Sarah al-Amiri, a high-tech state minister and president of the UAE space agency.
A success would be a big boost to the UAE’s space ambitions. The country’s first astronaut was launched into space in 2019, making a trip to the International Space Station with the Russians. 58 years after the Soviet Union and the United States launched astronauts.
In developing Amal, the UAE chose to collaborate with more experienced partners instead of going alone or buying the spacecraft elsewhere. His engineers and scientists worked with researchers at the University of Colorado, the University of California at Berkeley and Arizona State University.
The probe met in Boulder, Colorado, before being sent to Japan for launch last July.
The three spacecraft heading for the red planet were raised a few days after taking advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars, hence their next arrival times.
The manufacture and launch of the Amal vehicle cost $ 200 million; this excludes operating costs on Mars. Chinese and American expeditions are considerably more complicated and expensive because of their vehicles. NASA’s Perseverance mission totals $ 3 billion.
The UAE, a federation of seven skeikhdoms, is looking for Amal to ignite the imagination of the country’s scientists and their youth and help prepare for a future when oil runs out.
“This mission was never just about getting to Mars,” said Omran Sharaf, Amal’s project manager. “Mars is just a way to achieve a much bigger goal.”
____
Associated Press writer Malak Harb contributed to this report.