A senior Nasa scientist has heralded the UAE's landmark Mars mission as a crucial step towards fulfilling long-held ambitions to inhabit the Red Planet.
Dr Lori Glaze, planetary science division director at the American space agency, said the findings of the Hope probe's exploration of Mars will be key to humans eventually setting foot on its surface.
The UAE's latest journey to space, which is due to launch at 12.43am (UAE time) on Friday from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan, is central to its wider project to form the first human settlement on Mars by 2117.
The senior scientist shared her confidence in the nation's space programme during an online meeting organised by the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi.
"I think we'll get there," said Dr Glaze of plans for humans to land on Mars.
"I would say that having multiple countries now [on Mars exploration] has increased our capability [globally] of going back and forth to Mars."
Dr Glaze, however, conceded there is a long journey ahead for the international community.
"It is very important that we take a methodical approach where we make sure we take each step at a time," she said.
Missions such as that being undertaken by the UAE will provide scientists with valuable data to enable a greater understanding of Mars and the challenges space agencies face in putting astronauts on the planet for the first time.
"We need to be able to land those heavy spacecraft on Mars and then we need to be able to launch it off of the surface of Mars. This has never been done before," Dr Glaze said.
"We need to be able to demonstrate in-orbit rendezvous at Mars ... that once we've launched from the surface to then rendezvous with another spacecraft and then be able to get out of orbit and come back to Earth.
"So, all of these things need to be demonstrated even before we send the first human to Mars.
"I think we need to have realistic expectation and take it one step at a time and keep moving to that next step and that next level of capability so that we can eventually realise that dream."
The Emirates Mars Mission will study the atmosphere on the planet, complementing work being carried out by counterparts in America.
"We [Nasa] are also taking information on how the atmosphere is lost to space. This is very important information for helping us to understand how the atmosphere of Mars has changed and evolved over time," Dr Glaze said.
"So I think that combining the information from Nasa’s Maven [Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution] mission and the UAE’s Hope probe will help further our understanding of how that atmosphere is currently being lost to space, but also provide us new insight into how it has changed over time, how it has been lost over time. So it will be a major contributor to that science question as well."
The Maven spacecraft reached the orbit around Mars in 2014 and is still studying the red planet’s upper atmosphere.
Dr Glaze will be joining two scientists from the UAE Space Agency at an online meeting to discuss the Hope probe launch. The event, hosted by the US Embassy in collaboration with Nasa and the UAE Space Agency, will take place on Tuesday at 4pm.
To register for the online event, visit this link.
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Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
Scoreline
Al Wasl 1 (Caio Canedo 90 1')
Al Ain 2 (Ismail Ahmed 3', Marcus Berg 50')
Red cards: Ismail Ahmed (Al Ain) 77'
TOURNAMENT INFO
Fixtures
Sunday January 5 - Oman v UAE
Monday January 6 - UAE v Namibia
Wednesday January 8 - Oman v Namibia
Thursday January 9 - Oman v UAE
Saturday January 11 - UAE v Namibia
Sunday January 12 – Oman v Namibia
UAE squad
Ahmed Raza (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Waheed Ahmed, Zawar Farid, Darius D’Silva, Karthik Meiyappan, Jonathan Figy, Vriitya Aravind, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Chirag Suri
Company name: Play:Date
Launched: March 2017 on UAE Mother’s Day
Founder: Shamim Kassibawi
Based: Dubai with operations in the UAE and US
Sector: Tech
Size: 20 employees
Stage of funding: Seed
Investors: Three founders (two silent co-founders) and one venture capital fund
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UAE-Russia ties stretch back 48 years
Trade between the UAE and Russia reached Dh12.5 bn in 2018
More than 3,000 Russian companies are registered in the UAE
Around 40,000 Russians live in the UAE
The number of Russian tourists travelling to the UAE will increase to 12 percent to reach 1.6 million in 2023
The specs
Engine: 3.6 V6
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Power: 295bhp
Torque: 353Nm
Price: Dh155,000
On sale: now
UAE squad to face Ireland
Ahmed Raza (captain), Chirag Suri (vice-captain), Rohan Mustafa, Mohammed Usman, Mohammed Boota, Zahoor Khan, Junaid Siddique, Waheed Ahmad, Zawar Farid, CP Rizwaan, Aryan Lakra, Karthik Meiyappan, Alishan Sharafu, Basil Hameed, Kashif Daud, Adithya Shetty, Vriitya Aravind
'Gold'
Director:Anthony Hayes
Stars:Zaf Efron, Anthony Hayes
Rating:3/5
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Director: James Cameron
Starring: Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Zoe Saldana
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