The craft called, Amal, Arabic for Hope, had reached the end of its seven-month, 300-million-mile journey and had begun circling the red planet, where it will gather detailed data on Mars’ atmosphere.

As soon as the word came that the spacecraft entered Mars orbit, ground controllers at the UAE’s space center in Dubai broke into applause and celebrated the success.

The orbiter fired its main engines for 27 minutes in an intricate, high-stakes maneuver that slowed the craft enough for it to be captured by Mars’ gravity. It took a nail-biting 11 minutes for the signal confirming success to reach Earth.

Tensions were high: Over the years, Mars has been the graveyard for a multitude of missions from various countries.

A visibly relieved Omran Sharaf, the mission’s director, declared, “To the people of the UAE and Arab and Islamic nations, we announce the success of the UAE reaching Mars.”

Two more unmanned spacecraft from the U.S. and China are following close behind, set to arrive at Mars over the next several days. All three missions were launched in July to take advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars.

Amal’s arrival puts the UAE in a league of just five space agencies in history that have pulled off a functioning Mars mission. As the country’s first venture beyond Earth’s orbit, the flight is a point of intense pride for the oil-rich nation as it seeks a future in space.

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It was on July 19, 2020, that the United Arab Emirates launched its first Mars probe named Hope from Japan. According to the latest updates, the spacecraft is one-fifth of its way, and now, it has spotted Mars for the first time. To celebrate this milestone achievement, the space probe has also sent some photos of the Red Planet from the darkness of the space. The image sent back by Hope shows Mars as a tiny dot, a portrait very similar to the iconic ‘pale blue dot’ image taken by the Voyager 1 space probe.

“The Hope probe is officially 100 million km (60 million miles) into its journey to the Red Planet. Mars, as demonstrated in the image captured by the probe’s star tracker, is ahead of us, leaving Saturn and Jupiter behind. The Hope probe is expected to arrive at Mars in February 2021,” said His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE.

The Hope probe is considered a very challenging space mission, and during its course to the Red Planet, it should perform about six trajectory correction maneuvers. Earlier this month, the first trajectory correction maneuver was carried out successfully by the probe.

“We have accomplished our first trajectory correction maneuver, which was the first test of Mars Hope’s propulsion and trajectory control systems, as well as the first time the spacecraft’s six Delta-V thrusters have been activate,” said Omran Sharaf, project director of the Hope Mission.

If everything goes well, the Hope probe will study the climate of Mars, and the data obtained by the mission will help humans to know more about the weather pattern that prevails in the Red Planet.

In the meantime, NASA’s Perseverance probe is also en route to Mars. The ultimate aim of this mission is to detect signs of ancient alien life on the Red Planet.

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As South Korea is planning to launch a lunar orbiter in 2022, and send a lunar landing module by 2030, “I hope that we share the experience and scientific data, so we can open up a new chapter of our cooperation in space exploration,” said Cheolho Lim, President of Korea Aerospace Research Institute, KARI, which is the aeronautics and space agency of South Korea, the WAM news agency reported

“I believe Korea can greatly benefit from the UAE’s experience and accumulated knowledge in Mars when Korea carries out Mars exploration in future,” he said, adding that both parties can carry out joint Moon and Mars exploration projects in future.

The Hope Probe blasted off from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre ‪at 01:58 Monday morning‬ and it would 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 historic union of the Emirates.

Once Hope Probe successfully reaches Mars, the UAE will join the exclusive club of spacefarers that have landed on Mars, alongside the US, Russia, the European Union and India.

KARI president went on to say that “the UAE has become the fifth country in the world to launch a Mars probe. This means the UAE is one step ahead of Korea in terms of space exploration, especially in Mars probe.”

By successfully launching Hope Probe as its first mission, UAE has joined the elite club of spacefaring nations at one go, Lim said.

“I extend my heartfelt congratulations on the achievement. I sincerely wish Hope Probe’s safe arrival on Mars’ orbit and successful completion of the mission,” he said.

“I have no doubt that this was made possible by the UAE’s highest leadership with keen insight into the future, UAE people’s passion toward space, with strong support from the government,” he said.

South Korea’s space industry and KARI have been closely cooperating in the development of Earth observation satellites with UAE over the past ten years, Lim pointed out.

“And this has led to a fruitful relationship between two countries. I hope Korea becomes part of the UAE’s ongoing Mars Science City project, so our partnership in space can be further strengthened.”

In line with Mars 2117 Strategy, the UAE will build a complex of buildings called Mars Scientific City in Dubai. It will comprise laboratories for food, energy and water, agricultural testing and studies about food security in the future.

Mars Scientific City will include a laboratory that will stimulate the red planet’s terrain and harsh environment through advanced 3D printing technology and heat and radiation insulation. A team of scientists and astronauts will live in this simulated environment for one year.

Kari president said, “The UAE’s Mars 2117 Vision is something no countries have ever tried before. I wish UAE all of the very best in its continued endeavours in space, including the planned human settlement on Mars by 2117.”

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