The first Arab space mission, the UAE’s “Hope” spacecraft, is expected to reach Mars orbit on February 9, making it the first of three spacecraft to reach the red planet east. month.
The United Arab Emirates, China and the United States launched projects on Mars last July, taking advantage of a period in which Earth and Mars are closest.
If successful, the rich Gulf state will become the fifth nation to reach Mars, an adventure planned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the unification of the United Arab Emirates, with the mission to China becoming the sixth in the United States. the next day.
At night, the UAE’s landmarks have been illuminated in red, government accounts with the hashtag #ArabstoMars and Dubai’s big day Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, will be at the center of celebratory show.
Hope, known as “Al-Amal” in Arabic, will orbit the planet for at least a Martian year, or 687 days, while China’s Tianwen-1 and the United States’ March 2020 Perseverance rover will land on the surface. of March.
Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency have successfully reached the red planet in the past.
Risky maneuver
After leaving Japan last July, the Hope mission now faces its “most critical and complex” maneuver, according to Emirati officials, with a 50-50 chance of successfully entering a Mars orbit.
The spacecraft must decrease significantly to be captured by Martian gravity, rotating and firing the six Delta-V thrusters for 27 minutes to reduce its cruising speed from 121,000 kilometers per hour to about 18,000 km / h (11,200 mph)) .
The process, which will consume half of its fuel, will begin on Tuesday, February 9, at 15:30 GMT (15:30 UTC) and will take 11 minutes to get a signal on its progress to reach ground control.
Omran Sharaf, project manager for the UAE mission, said it was a “huge honor” to be the first of this year’s missions to reach Mars.
“It’s humble to be in a company as conducive and skilled as we all undertake our missions,” he said. “It was never a race for us. We approach space as a collaborative and inclusive effort.”
While the Hope spacecraft is designed to provide a complete picture of the planet’s weather dynamics, it is also a step toward a much more ambitious goal: to build a human settlement on Mars within 100 years.
While consolidating its status as a key regional player, the United Arab Emirates also wants the project to serve as a source of inspiration for young Arabs, in a region too often devastated by sectarian conflicts and economic crises.
Hope will use three scientific instruments to control the Martian atmosphere and is expected to begin transmitting information to Earth in September 2021, with data available for scientists around the world to study.
So close
The Chinese Tianwen-1, or “Questions in the Sky,” has already sent its first image of Mars: a black-and-white photo showing geological features such as the Schiaparelli crater and the Marineris Valleys, a wide stretch of canyons in the sea. surface.
The five-ton Tianwen-1 includes a Mars orbiter, a lander and a solar-powered rover that for three months will study the planet’s soil and atmosphere, take photos, map and look for signs of past life.
China expects to land the 240-kilogram (529-pound) rover in May in Utopia, a massive-impact basin on Mars. Its orbiter will last a Martian year.
Tianwen-1 is not China’s first attempt to reach Mars. A previous mission with Russia in 2011 ended prematurely when the launch failed.
First photo of Mart of Tianwen-1. (National Space Administration of China / AFP)
NASA’s Perseverance, which is scheduled to hit the red planet on February 18, will become the fifth vehicle to complete the trip since 1997, and so far all have been Americans.
He is on an astrobiology mission to look for signs of ancient microbial life and will attempt to pilot a 1.8-kilogram helicopter to another world for the first time.
Perseverance, capable of autonomously navigating 200 meters (650 feet) a day, will collect rock samples that could provide invaluable clues as to whether there was ever past life on Mars.
Approximately the size of a small SUV, weighing a metric ton, it has 19 cameras and two microphones, which scientists expect to be the first to record sound on Mars.
The mission has a minimum duration of two years.
© France-Presse Agency