UAE’s Hope probe gives new insight into temperatures on Mars

The spacecraft has been orbiting the planet since February last year

HOPE MISSION MILESTONES - IN PICTURES: On July 16, 2014, the UAE announced its Mars mission would reach the planet in 2021, in time for the country's Golden Jubilee. Photo: Nasa

On May 8, 2015, during a glittering ceremony at Qasr Al Watan, Abu Dhabi, the name of the spacecraft and timeline of the mission is unveiled by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

On November 12, 2017, at the Dubai Airshow, a prototype of the Mars spacecraft goes on display. Photo: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre

On January 5, 2020, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, right, and Sheikh Mohamed sign the final piece of the Hope Probe before it is shipped to Japan for the launch. Photo: Wam

On January 21, 2020, a launch window between July 14 and August 3, 2020, is announced. The spacecraft would lift off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre, aboard the HII-A rocket. On May 19, it is announced the first launch attempt would be made on July 15, 2020. Photo: Dubai Media Office

On April 5, 2020, Emirati engineers are sent, months in advance, to the launch site due to Covid-19. Some team members stay behind because only a limited number of people are allowed on site. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

On April 25, 2020, the space orbiter arrives on Tanegashima island, 1,000 kilometres south of Tokyo. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

The vehicle travelled in a special container to avoid damage and flew on one of the world's largest cargo planes. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and chairperson of the UAE Space Agency, and mission director Omran Sharaf, third left, discuss with engineers shipping the Hope probe to Japan. Photo: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre

The Hope probe arrives in Tanegashima island for a launch attempt on July 15, 2020. Courtesy: Yoshiaki Sakita

Heavy rainfall and strong winds delay the mission twice, on July 15 and July 17. Courtesy: Shoma Watanbe

On July 20, 2020, the Hope probe lifts off and begins its 493-million-kilometre journey to Mars. AFP

Sarah Al Amiri celebrates a successful take-off with launch provider Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. AFP

On July 22, 2020, the probe captures an image of Mars two days after it began its journey to the Red Planet. Sheikh Mohammed shared this image on Twitter. Photo: Sheikh Mohammed Twitter

On February 9, 2021, Sarah Al Amiri hosted an event at Dubai's Burj Park and gave live updates on the mission. Reuters

On February 9, 2021, mission director Omran Sharaf announces the Hope probe has successfully entered Mars orbit. Photo: Wam

Joyous scenes at the event in Burj Park. Christopher Pike / Reuters

Moments after the announcement, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed and Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid thank staff at mission control in Dubai. Photo: Ministry of Presidential Affairs

On February 14, 2021, the spacecraft sends its first global image of the Red Planet. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

On October 1, 2021, the UAE releases the first set of data collected by the mission, including images and science readings of the atmosphere and weather. Photo: Emirates Mars Mission

This image taken by the Hope probe’s ultraviolet spectrometer shows sunlight reflected from the extended cloud of atomic hydrogen gas that surrounds Mars. The sunlight is visible only as a dark disk hidden within the gas. Emirates Mars Mission

On January 1, a second set of data is released for free to the public. This image was enhanced by Andrea Luck and shows another cloudy day on the planet. The North Pole, Olympus Mons and Tharsis Montes are also visible. Photo: Hope Mars Mission / Andrew Luck

Researchers at New York University Abu Dhabi have used the Hope probe’s data to measure the surface temperature of Mars more extensively.

The new study measured the surface temperature of the entire planet, including its daily and seasonal variations.

Nasa orbiters and rovers have made such measurements before, but Hope’s unique placement in Mars' orbit – which is much higher up than others – allows it to see various parts of the planet during different times of the day.

The findings were published in the Monthly Reviews of the Royal Astronomy Society, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, on August 12.

Hope is the first Arab spacecraft to journey to Mars.

Built by Emirati engineers, along with three US universities, it has been orbiting the planet since February 9, 2021.

Dimitra Atri, research scientist at the NYUAD's Centre for Space Science and the lead author of the study, told The National that they used Hope’s infrared spectrometer instrument, also called EMIRS, to make the measurements.

“We, for the first time, measured the surface temperature of the entire planet, and its daily and seasonal variations, using data from the UAE's Hope probe,” he said.

“Due to Hope's unique orbit, we, for the first time were able to measure the temperature at all local times for most of the planet.

“This was not possible earlier because other orbiters are at a highly elliptical orbit and unlike Hope, they only measure a very small fraction of the planet at once.

“While doing the analysis, we were pleasantly surprised by the quality of data, so much so that we were able choose any point on the planet and get the daily and seasonal variation of temperature.”

The researchers found that the average surface temperature of Mars ranges between 140 Kelvin to 280 Kelvin, or -133°C to 7°C.

The observations by Hope were compared with data from Nasa’s Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, which are deployed on the Red Planet’s surface.

“Since I already work with both of these rovers, I knew that Curiosity's REMS instrument and Perseverance's MEDA instrument also continuously measure the surface temperature of Mars at Gale crater and Jezero crater, respectively,” Dr Atri said.

“So, I decided to compare the temperature we measured from the orbit with measurements from the surface.

“Overall, we found an excellent agreement among the three missions.”

Colder nights on Red Planet

However, Hope’s data showed that Mars could be colder at night than previously thought.

Dr Atri and his team are currently doing more research to determine whether these specific findings were accurate, or if there were factors that interfered with the measurements.

“There are some minor discrepancies, which we are trying to resolve and will lead to better estimation of global temperature data from Hope,” he said.

Mars has a very thin atmosphere and cannot retain heat. For decades, scientists have been trying to understand how the planet lost its atmosphere, making it impossible for it to host life.

Four sets of data captured by the Hope probe, totalling 118.5 gigabytes, have been released to the public since it arrived on Mars.

The observations have also helped Dr Atri create an atlas of the Red Planet, which aims to show how Mars changes over time.

The Atlas was released in English and in Arabic.

In December, the orbiter tracked a massive dust storm on Mars for more than two weeks, helping to show how quickly they can spread across the planet.

The rapidly evolving regional dust storm in late December had expanded to a size of several thousand kilometres.

Dust storms on Mars cause extremely turbulent weather. They can be up to 30 kilometres high and cover the entire planet.

The storms can be seen from space, making the planet appear as a bright ball of red.

Scientists hope that by studying them they can gain further insight into how they are drying out the planet by helping Martian water escape the planet's atmosphere.

Hope used a high-resolution camera and an infrared spectrometer to document the storm’s growth and dissipation.

The instruments revealed the thermal conditions of the planet’s surface and lower atmosphere, giving details about the geographic distribution of dust, water vapour, water and carbon dioxide ice clouds.

Dr Dimitra Atri, a research scientist at New York University Abu Dhabi, has created an atlas of Mars using data from the UAE’s Hope probe. The full map will be published later this month, but he gave 'The National' a preview. All photos by Dr Atri / Emirates Mars Mission and infographic by Roy Cooper / The National

The Arabia Quadrangle region on Mars.

The Syrtis Major Planum region on Mars.

The Elsyium region on Mars.