The first Mars exploration in UAE aims to inspire a new generation of space scientists.

Japan's H-IIA rocket was launched by the "Hope" spacecraft. The "Hope" Mars orbiter mission was developed by Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center in the United Arab Emirates.

Source: Associated Press pictures, Yomiuri Shimbun

Author: Karim Shaheen

In the early morning of July 20th, a rocket with a height of about 53 meters roared off on Tanegashima, a small island south of Kyushu, and embarked on a long journey to Mars with a spaceship.

However, the spacecraft itself is not Japanese. The spacecraft named al-Amal, or "Hope", was designed and managed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates. About 28 days later, when the spacecraft is safely separated from the Japanese rocket, it will ignite its own propeller, leave the earth orbit and head for Mars, and will arrive in February 20021year to complete the first interstellar voyage initiated by Arab countries.

"This feeling is beyond words." Sarah Al-Amill, the UAE's minister of cutting-edge science and head of research on Hope, said after the launch, "This is the future of the UAE."

This summer, the distance between the earth and Mars is suitable, and it is the most economical to launch a Mars probe at this time. This window period occurs every 26 months, and two other countries will take advantage of it this year. America's next flagship rover, Persistence, and China's "Tian Wen No.1" landing platform and rover will also be launched soon, and the estimated time to reach Mars is also in 202 1 early this year.

In 200 1 year, NASA's Mars Global Explorer took two photos one month before and after the sandstorm ravaged Mars. The orbiter "Hope" from the United Arab Emirates will arrive at Mars in February, 20021to study its sandstorm and other atmospheric phenomena.

Source: NASA /JPL/MSSS.

20/kloc-In May, 2005, at a ceremony in Dubai, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (left), Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Chief of Dubai, talked about the Mars "Hope" mission in the United Arab Emirates.

Source: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center.

Omar Sharif, head of the Hope Project, said: "Our region has nurtured a wealth of knowledge. Many technologies and sciences we use today are based on the achievements of scientists in this field. They come from different backgrounds and come from different nationalities. "

Omar Sharif said that the interplanetary flight to Mars will stimulate the competition between countries in the Middle East and North Africa and further develop their own STEM industry. In order to recruit talents in the region, the UAE recently launched a new plan to recruit Arab researchers and train them in astronomy and planetary science. The leaders of this mission hope that these efforts will inspire young people in Arab countries to practice science, resist the encouragement of extremist organizations, and curb the brain drain caused by scientists emigrating to other parts of the world.

Sarah al-Amiri, minister of advanced science in the United Arab Emirates and head of hope science research, asked: "Knowledge is the booster of most economies in the world. So, how do you use knowledge to create opportunities? The heroes we need to talk about are those who promote stability by creating jobs for young people and doing things with economic influence. "

"Hope" is the latest progress made by the United Arab Emirates space project. In 20 18, Haza Mansouri became the first UAE man to enter Earth orbit and stayed on the International Space Station for more than a week. He has toured the country for dozens of times, and the National Astronaut Program established in 20 17 has announced a lofty goal: to establish a human base on Mars before 2 1 17.

The rapid progress in these aerospace fields, including the launch of the first Earth observation satellite made entirely by UAE engineers in 20 18, largely benefited from unique international cooperation.

Master-apprentice inheritance

The mission of "Hope" is to impart knowledge to the young engineers and scientists in the United Arab Emirates to the greatest extent. The average age of this team is 27 years old. To this end, the UAE's space program has turned to the Atmospheric and Space Physics Laboratory (LASP) of the University of Colorado at Boulder, which has a long history in building spacecraft and scientific instruments, as well as Arizona State University and the University of California at Berkeley.

This arrangement draws lessons from the cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and South Korea on its first satellite, helping UAE scientists and technicians to rapidly develop their expertise in Mars exploration.

Team members from mission to mars, United Arab Emirates (EMM) took a group photo in front of the "Hope" spacecraft.

Source: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center.

Pete Withnell, project director of the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP), said: "The UAE decided to do it in a difficult way. They want to be deeply involved in all the work from the leadership to the engineer level. "

Sarah al-Amiri, UAE's minister of advanced science and head of the research of Hope, said that in the six years before the launch, the UAE team cooperated with the global scientific community to develop the Mars science project "completely from scratch". She said: "We must develop a completely unfamiliar department, that is, space science." She added that 80% of the "Hope" scientific team are women, which reflects the high proportion of women participating in STEM projects in UAE youth and universities.

Sarah al-Amiri said, "For us, this is neither strange nor abnormal. This is based on performance. "

However, due to the closure of the airport due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the slow development of global industries, the sprint to catch up with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates was almost in vain. "This mission is very dangerous." Omar Sharif, head of Hope Project, said.

He and his colleagues decided to speed up the task and send an advance team to the Japanese launch site in advance, leaving a two-week isolation period. The spacecraft was transported from Colorado to Dubai for the final test, then to Nagoya Airport in Japan, and finally to Seed Island Space Center by barge.

A real Mars climate satellite

The "Hope" orbiter is expected to arrive at Mars in February next year and enter an elliptical orbit around the equator of Mars, with a distance of 20,000 to 40,000 kilometers from the surface of Mars. It flies higher than previous Mars satellites, so this mission will provide a unique perspective for understanding the global climate model of Mars.

Fran, a French astrophysicist and Mars expert who cooperated with the "Hope" scientific team? Ois Forget said: "The climate system of Mars is quite complicated." For example, there are sandstorms on Mars, which are big enough to devour the whole planet and cover the sun. Most of the thin atmosphere of Mars is carbon dioxide. Every winter, a large amount of carbon dioxide will turn into carbon dioxide ice cloud, forming a temporary polar ice sheet.

Most Mars orbiters fly over the poles of Mars. Although they are close enough to Mars to study the details of the surface, they can't understand the global weather patterns from a macro perspective. Hope's long-distance orbit around the equator of Mars will enable it to monitor the large-scale dynamics of Mars throughout the year.

"We will see everything." Fran? Ois forgot to mention.

By studying the interaction between the lower atmosphere and the upper atmosphere, and measuring the amount of hydrogen and oxygen escaping into space, this mission will reveal how Mars lost its early atmosphere and liquid water, and solve the mystery of its transformation from a possibly livable planet to the barren world we see today. Hope's orbit allows it to observe the same place 12 hours continuously, allowing scientists to see real-time weather phenomena, such as sandstorms.

Detailed atmospheric models will also play a key role in the future manned missions on Mars, providing information for the selection of landing sites, survival strategies on the surface of Mars and understanding the water cycle on Mars. Predicting sandstorms may be particularly important for humans who want to take off from the surface of Mars and return home.

However, apart from the discovery of Mars, stepping into interplanetary space is a great scientific leap in the Arab world and a return to the past.

Omar Sharaf, the head of Project Hope, mentioned the cultural and scientific prosperity in the Middle East from the 8th century to14th century: "At that time, everyone could survive and people could accept differences. Once we stop accepting differences, we start to go backwards. "

Sharaf hopes to fly to Mars and become a spark to ignite the dream of a new generation. He said: "This task is to create future heroes."

(Translator: Mikegao)