Probe begins orbiting Mars orbit
Dubai, Feb 9: Burj Khalifa, which is the world’s largest tower, lit up in red to honour UAE’s first Red Planet mission ‘Hope probe’. Hope, the first interplanetary mission undertaken by an Arab nation, has begun orbiting the red planet.
The unmanned robotic probe named “Al-Amal”, (Arabic for ‘Hope’) blasted off from Japan last year and completed a 7-month long journey to reach the Red Planet’s orbit. To enter Mars orbit, the probe needed to burn some of its 800kg of onboard fuel to slow down enough in 27 minutes, and be captured by the gravity of Mars.
This mission has made UAE the fifth space agency to reach the planet. Hope probe will remain in the orbit for at least one Martian year i.e. 687 days. The unmanned probe is expected to provide pictures of Mars atmosphere from the orbit by using the three instruments mounted on it namely: infrared spectrometer to measure the temperature of the lower atmosphere, the high resolution imager to measure ozone levels and capture images, and the ultraviolet spectrometer to measure the levels of oxygen and hydrogen.
