UAE Hope probe to arrive at Red Planet within two months

Ground control team will begin preparations for orbit insertion in January

The operations control room at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, where Emirati personnel track and communicate with UAE's Mars Hope probe. Antonie Robertson / The National

Zakareyya Al Shamsi, the deputy manager of mission operations, explains how the team is constantly tracking the probe. Antonie Robertson / The National

Mohammad Al Balooshi, flight controller, sends the 'go/no-go' instructions to the person responsible for issuing commands to the probe. Antonie Robertson / The National

Mr Al Shamsi explains how they track the UAE's Hope probe. Antonie Robertson / The National

The UAE's Hope probe lifted off from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre on July 20, 1.58am UAE time. AFP

The final version of the spacecraft has two solar panels that help power its systems. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

The UAE team watch the launch of the Mars Hope probe at the Tanegashima Space Centre.

Omran Sharaf is the project director for the Emirates' Hope space probe to Mars. AP

The UAE mission to Mars is reaching a milestone, with less than 50 days remaining until the Hope probe arrives.

Next month, Emirati engineers at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre’s ground control will begin preparations for orbit insertion, the most challenging part of the journey.

The Hope spacecraft, which will study Mars' upper and lower atmospheres, is scheduled to arrive at the planet on February 9 at 7.42pm, Gulf Standard Time.

"We are getting closer to the space and we are concluding any activities we have by January, because after that, we have to fully prepare for the Mars orbit insertion phase, which is a very critical phase," Hessa Al Matroushi, science data and analysis lead for the mission, told The National.

The mission was launched on July 20 from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan. If successful, the UAE will become the first Arab nation and only fifth country to reach Mars.

The Hope probe launches from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre on July 20. AFP

It will take the spacecraft, which later detached from the rocket, about 200 days to reach the Red Planet, arriving in February 2021. Courtesy: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

The launch of the rocket is captured on video at Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. Courtesy: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

The first homegrown Arab space mission drew in interest from across the globe. Courtesy: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

The launch of the rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. Courtesy: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

Waiting for the launch in the morning light. MHI Launch Services twitter

Emirati journalists clap as they watch the launch of the Hope space probe at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. AP

A broadcasting of the launch of the Hope Mars probe at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. AFP

An Emirati man wipes a tear away with his face mask while watching the launch of the Hope space probe at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. AP

Mohammed Al Mannaee, an announcer with Dubai TV, reacts as he watches the launch. AP

Sarah Al Ameeri and the UAE team watch the launch at at the Tanegashima Space Centre

The UAE team watch the launch of the Mars Hope probe at at the Tanegashima Space Centre.

Sarah Al Ameeri and the UAE team watch the launch at at the Tanegashima Space Centre

A screen broadcasts the launch of the Mars probe at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. AFP

Solid rocket booster (SRB-A) was separated after burnout during the launch of the H-2A rocket carrying the Hope Probe, developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Mars explore, are recorded by cameras onboard the rocket after the lauch from Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima, Japan. REUTERS

A screen broadcasts the launch of the Mars probe at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. AFP

The launch of the rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. Courtesy: MHI Launch Services

Omran Sharaf, the project director for the Hope space probe, speaks on his mobile phone at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai. AP

Sarah Al Ameeri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences of United Arab Emirates, celebrates with Naohiko Abe, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) Senior Vice President, Head of Integrated Defence and Space Systems, after the successful launch of the H-2A rocket carrying the Hope Probe, developed by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for the Mars explore, at Tanegashima Space Center on the island of Tanegashima, Japan. REUTERS

Emiratis are pictured at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai ahead of the expected launch of the "Hope" Mars probe from Japan. AFP

The weather was clear over Tanegashima Island in southern Japan on Sunday after weeks of rain and cloudy conditions. Courtesy: Dubai Media Office

Emirati engineers wave in a picture taken on Sunday from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. Courtesy: Emirates Mars Mission / UAE Space Agency

The launch of the rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. Screengrab courtesy MHI Launch Services

The spacecraft will use three instruments – an exploration imager, ultraviolet spectrometer and an infrared spectrometer – to carry out its scientific tasks.

For the past few months, the mission has been in cruise phase. The probe has covered more than 388,200,000 kilometres so far, and only about 92.2 million kilometres remain.

“During the cruise phase, we are checking the instruments we have on board the Hope probe, and we’re checking the spacecraft’s health and how it operates,” Ms Matroushi said.

The team began gathering scientific data earlier than expected.

A navigational camera on the probe that tracks stars, helping the spacecraft to stay on its path, was used to study interplanetary dust.

Emirati scientists are already analysing the data gathered. The findings will be combined with data being collected by European Space Agency’s BepiColombo spacecraft, which is en route to Mercury.

Scientists and astronomers believe interplanetary dust played an important role in the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.

The new data will help them study dust density and its distribution throughout the solar system.

But Hope's main scientific mission is to study why gases, specifically hydrogen and oxygen, are leaking from the Mars atmosphere.

Emirati scientists with the mission will be using the ultraviolet spectrometer to take a photo of Mars as it gets closer to orbit, allowing them to analyse gases around it.

The early measurements will help them prepare for more thorough research once it reaches the science orbit, when it will spend two years gathering extensive data.

“This will give us more information about hydrogen and oxygen distributions, especially around Mars,” Ms Al Matroushi said.

“We’re cruising Mars from afar, but we would still be able to see the hydrogen and oxygen around it. That would be very beneficial for us, because it will enable us to characterise the instrument better, making observations earlier than needed.

“By doing that we are trying to understand how our instrumentation works, and to verify our data pipeline processing that we are preparing.”

This means they will have the required algorithms in place to more accurately and efficiently process the data that comes later from the science orbit.

All the data gathered by UAE Mars mission will be available online free of charge. A dedicated website, the Science Data Centre of the Emirates Mars Mission, has been set up and will go live in due course.

Scientists believe Mars contained ancient life – in pictures

A new study suggests that conditions on Mars nearly 4 billion years ago may have made ancient life there more likely.

The surface of Mars. NASA

Collage showing Mars’s Maumee valleys (top half) superimposed with channels on Devon Island in Nunavut (bottom half) The share of the channels, as well as the overall network appears almost identical. Courtesy Cal-Tech CTX mosaic and MAXAR/Esri

Co-author Mark Jellinek of UBC looking towards the Devon ice cap, standing on rocks that are more than a million years old. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre

UBC researchers have concluded that the early Martian landscape probably looked similar to this image of the Devon ice cap in the Canadian Arctic. Courtesy Anna Grau Galofre