UAE marks anniversary of Hope Probe’s Mars orbit entry

The UAE is celebrating one year since the Hope Probe successfully entered Mars’ orbit.

The Emirates Mars Mission’s spacecraft reached the Red Planet exactly a year ago, becoming the world’s fifth country to achieve the feat and the first in the Arab world.

On February 9, 2021, at exactly 19:42, Hope Probe successfully entered the Mars orbit, completing some of the most difficult stages of its mission.

Its 493 million km journey through space to Mars took almost seven years of diligent and dedicated preparation.

The achievement coincided with the UAE celebrating its Golden Jubilee in 2021.

This marked the perfect start for the next 50 years of growth, progress and sustainable development, laying the foundations for a knowledge-based economy of the future.

With the successful arrival of Hope Probe last year, the UAE became the first among three space missions that reached Mars in February 2021 – the other two being the United States and China.

It is now carrying out a crucial scientific mission to share data on the planet’s atmosphere with the world.

One year ago today, the ground control station at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) at Al Khawaneej, Dubai, was the center stage and the focus of the world’s attention, during which every manoeuvre was intricately followed and managed to guide the Hope Probe into orbit.

The historic mission was watched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, and His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

Millions of people across the UAE, the wider region and the world watched the nail-biting mission which was broadcast live on TV, websites and social media.

Every movement, every manoeuvre, every milestone of Hope Probe’s arrival was captured and relayed, in the presence of international news agencies, representatives of the media, local and regional news sites, top officials and members of the Emirates Mars Mission project team.

Since the first day of its arrival, Hope Probe has continued to provide the scientific community around the world with unprecedented scientific data.

Two batches of data have already been made available on the Emirates Mars Mission website to scientists, researchers and those interested in space science.

The first batch was published in October 2021 and included images, information and observations collected from February 9 to May 22, while the second batch was published in early January.

Data will continue to be published every three months.