While the United States and Russia may have been the first to explore Mars, a new set of space-bound countries have decided to try their luck in uncovering the secrets of the red planet. The latest one is the Middle Eastern nation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In an announcement made last week, officials from the UAE Space Agency presented the blueprints of their planned mission to Mars which is scheduled for July 2020.
The UAE's primary goal for the space mission is to secure its place as one of the great benefactor nations who have contributed to global space technology and planetary science.
The Arab state plans to become a key player in the growing space industry that amounts to about $300 billion a year.
"Arab civilization once played a great role in contributing to human knowledge, and will play that role again," Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum of Dubai said.
"[The] Emirates Mars Mission proves that nothing is impossible, that Arabs can compete with the greatest of nations in the race of knowledge."
The members of the Emirates Mars Mission estimate that their 1500-kilogram (3306-pound) space probe named Hope, or al-Amal in Arabic, will stay in orbit for four years as it gathers data on Mars including its atmosphere.
The researchers hope that the mission can help explain the red planet's long term water loss through atmospheric photo-dissociation. In this process, the water's reactive chemical is broken down by photons coming from the Sun.
The space probe will also survey cloud formations and dust storms on Mars as well as how the planet's atmosphere is affects its topography.
Bruce Jakosky, NASA's principal investigator for the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission, said that the UAE is committed to giving substantial contributions to Mars exploration.
"The UAE Space Agency has been very consistent in that they don't want to do a technology demonstration mission," he said.
"They want to contribute substantively to the world's exploration and understanding of Mars."
Jakosky will serve as a co-investigator for the UAE's Hope mission.
Once it reaches Mars, the Hope space probe will follow a 55-hour orbit around the planet during the first quarter of 2021. It will conduct its two-year data collection mission at altitudes between 22,000 kilometers (13,670 miles) to 44,000 kilometers (27,340 miles). The probe will also survey the lower and upper levels of the atmosphere of Martian to find out how they are connected.
The mission aims to produce a complete picture of how the planet's atmosphere changes throughout the day and between its seasons.
Photo: JD Hancock | Flickr
