• The Hope probe launches from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre on July 20. AFP
    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
    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 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 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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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.
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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
    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 launch of the rocket from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. Screengrab courtesy MHI Launch Services

Science

UAE Mars Mission launch: as it happened

Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed said the nation watched the Hope probe launch 'with pride and joy'

Sarwat Nasir
Sarwat Nasir
UAE

July 20, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

Update: The live updates on this article are now closed. For more on the Mars mission please click here

The UAE's leaders on Monday said the Mars probe blast-off was a historic achievement that the country could be proud of.

The Arab world's first homegrown space mission launched right on time, sending the Hope probe soaring towards Earth's outer orbit.

"We watched the successful launch of the Hope probe to Mars with pride and joy, as we embark on a new chapter in space, led by our exceptional youth," Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, said on Monday.

"Congratulations to the UAE for this historic achievement."

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said the probe was on its way to the Red Planet as planned.

"We have started the 493-million km journey to the Red Planet. May God facilitate our journey," he said.

In the next 200 days, Hope will travel at speeds of up to 120,000kph on its incredible 495-million-kilometre journey to Mars.

Mohamed bin Zayed Majlis

Springtime in a Broken Mirror,
Mario Benedetti, Penguin Modern Classics

 

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New UK refugee system

 

  • A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
  • Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
  • A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
  • To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
  • Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
  • Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Our legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

Conflict, drought, famine

Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.

Band Aid

Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.

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6.30pm: Maiden Dh165,000 2,000m - Winner: Powderhouse, Sam Hitchcott (jockey), Doug Watson (trainer)

7.05pm: Handicap Dh165,000 2,200m - Winner: Heraldic, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar

7.40pm: Conditions Dh240,000 1,600m - Winner: Walking Thunder, Connor Beasley, Ahmed bin Harmash

8.15pm: Handicap Dh190,000 2,000m - Winner: Key Bid, Fernando Jara, Ali Rashid Al Raihe

8.50pm: The Garhoud Sprint Listed Dh265,000 1,200m - Winner: Drafted, Sam Hitchcott, Doug Watson

9.25pm: Handicap Dh170,000 1,600m - Winner: Cachao, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar

10pm: Handicap Dh190,000 1,400m - Winner: Rodaini, Connor Beasley, Ahmed bin Harmash

Director: Laxman Utekar

Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna

Rating: 1/5

Living in...

This article is part of a guide on where to live in the UAE. Our reporters will profile some of the country’s most desirable districts, provide an estimate of rental prices and introduce you to some of the residents who call each area home.

The biog

Favourite hobby: taking his rescue dog, Sally, for long walks.

Favourite book: anything by Stephen King, although he said the films rarely match the quality of the books

Favourite film: The Shawshank Redemption stands out as his favourite movie, a classic King novella

Favourite music: “I have a wide and varied music taste, so it would be unfair to pick a single song from blues to rock as a favourite"

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