Our Correspondent
Hope Probe, the UAE’s mission to Mars, has captured and relayed the first image of its destination 66 hours after Hope’s take-off. His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, shared the image on Twitter.
Sheikh Mohammed tweeted: “We received the Hope probe’s first sighting of its destination, Mars, after the spacecraft travelled one million km into space. Beyond the sky is where our dreams start.”
The image is titled ‘First Mars sighting by Hope probe (taken by star trackers)’ and labels earth’s neighbour planet. The photo shows an oval-shaped Mars as the brightest spot among other celestial bodies.
We received the Hope probe's first sighting of its destination, Mars, after the spacecraft travelled one million km into space. Beyond the sky is where our dreams start. pic.twitter.com/jN7MBxKa7U
— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) July 22, 2020
On July 20, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, has said that the launch of the ‘Hope Probe’ constitutes a national and Arab achievement and an advanced Emirati push in the process of building global knowledge in space.
“We followed with great pleasure and pride today the news of the successful launch of Hope Probe, whose idea was developed within our national and research institutions and was designed and manufactured with the effective participation of a young national elite of bright minds — highly qualified and trained and sincere young Emiratis.”
In a tweet after the launch, Sheikh Mohammed said: “We proudly announce the successful launch of the Hope probe. The ground control station in Dubai has received the first signal from the probe after its solar panels were successfully deployed to charge its batteries. Our 493 million km journey to the Red Planet starts here.”
The first interplanetary mission from the Arab World will travel 493.5 million km over seven months to reach Mars’ orbit in February 2021, coinciding with the UAE’s Golden Jubilee celebrations to mark the union of the Emirates.
The European Space Agency, ESA, said in a statement, “The Hope Probe will be a major contribution to the Mars science community.”
