In a historic achievement, the United Arab Emirates' Hope Probe on Tuesday successfully swung into Mars' orbit, as the Arab world's first interplanetary mission.
Associate Administrator of NASA, Thomas Zurbuchen, also congratulated the UAE and the Mars mission team on Hope Probe's successful entry to the Mars’ orbit.
Zurbuchen on his Twitter account wrote, "Congratulations on your safe arrival to Mars’ orbit! Your bold endeavor to explore the Red Planet will inspire many others to reach for the stars. We hope to join you at Mars soon with @NASAPersevere."
The Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), HH Sheikh Mohammed tweeted two words on the feat, ‘Mission Accomplished’
Launched on July 19, the historic "Hope" Probe is UAE's first-ever interplanetary mission. According to the mission statement, the Hope probe which is officially called the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is designed to orbit Mars and study the dynamics in the Martian atmosphere on a global scale, and on both diurnal and seasonal timescales.
Using three scientific instruments on board the spacecraft, EMM will provide a set of measurements fundamental to better understanding of circulation and weather in the Martian lower and middle atmosphere. It aims to reveal many of the Red Planet's secrets, which could assist in setting up a human outpost on the planet in the future.
Its objectives include understanding climate dynamics and the global weather map through characterising the lower atmosphere of Mars and understand the structure and variability of hydrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere, as well as identifying why Mars is losing them into space.
Besides the "Hope" probe, two other missions are set to reach Mars this month. While China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft is set to reach Mars on February 10, US space agency NASA's Perseverance rover will touch down on February 18.
(With inputs from IANS)
