The UAE Mars probe has succeeded in establishing its presence in orbit around Mars.

Great joy in the United Arab Emirates. The first mission to Mars is an instant success. The Hope probe was launched in July 2020 and is now orbiting Mars. It is a huge precedent for the United Arab Emirates, which until recently only had experience launching Earth observation satellites.

Thrilling
The Hope Probe was launched from Japan last summer. After a successful launch, it was waiting for a flight of 480 million km. All went well and now, after spending 204 days in interplanetary space, the Probe of Hope has reached its destination.

It was certainly not self-evident. Slowing down a fast traveling probe and forcing it to orbit the red planet is quite an art. This afternoon, the Hope probe was still heading to Mars at 121,000 kilometers per hour. By activating the thrusters, this speed had to be reduced to 18,000 kilometers per hour in less than 45 minutes. To add to the excitement, the Hope Probe temporarily disappeared behind Mars during the braking operation, preventing contact. Shortly after 5, the connection can be made again and the recovery message follows that the probe has slowed sufficiently and is now in orbit around Mars.

Task
The Hope Probe will examine the Martian atmosphere from this orbit. This consists of several layers, the details of which we still do not know. With the help of Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (Abbreviation EMUS) The Hope Probe will research the interaction between the upper and lower layers of the atmosphere. It is hoped that it will provide more information about how atmospheric gases escape from that atmosphere. Knowing this could also help us understand how Mars transformed from a warm, humid planet with a dense atmosphere to a cold, dry planet with a thin atmosphere. Additionally, the Emirates to photograph the explorations (EXI for short) to take very clear images of the Martian atmosphere and thus get a better picture of the water, ice and dust present in this atmosphere.

There is more to come
The era of the buttocks is over for the Arabs. They can look forward to the scientific results of their probe. It is different for the Chinese and the Americans. Their probes are still on their way to Mars and are expected to arrive there in the coming days. The Chinese Tianwen-1 mission (previously referred to as Huoxing-1) is scheduled to arrive on Mars tomorrow. The mission consists of an orbiter, lander and rover. The latter two will not land on Mars until spring. Meanwhile, an American spacecraft is on the planet Mars on the way; It should set foot on Mars on February 18th.

It is easy to explain the fact that it is currently very busy on and near the Red Planet. It has everything to do with Mars’ position relative to Earth. Mars is a little further from the Sun and has an orbital length twice that of our planet. This means that the distance between Earth and Mars varies: the moment the Earth moves away from Mars, and the next moment it approaches it again. Once every two years, the distance between the two celestial bodies is the smallest and this is the ideal time for a mission to Mars. After all, spacecraft can reach the Red Planet relatively quickly – and with relatively little fuel. That perfect moment was last summer. And then in a short time Three missions to Mars Release. They now reach Mars shortly after each other.

The Chinese are a little more experienced than the Arabs. Tianwen-1 is the second Mars mission. It should be noted that the first failed; The Mars Orbiter Yinghuo-1 was launched in 2011 and has never reached Mars. The Americans have considerably more inland experience, and in addition to three orbits on Mars, there is also a rover and lander operating on Mars at the moment. Perseverance will be added to this fleet and you will actively search for traces of life, among other things. The Chinese have a similar goal with their orbiter, mars, landing craft, and rover. The trio should help determine whether life on the Red Planet – which has already been shown to be habitable in the past – actually exists (or even still does).