‘Amal’, the first Mars probe in the Arab world, enters Mars orbit… 5th in the world

On the 9th (local time), citizens of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are cheering for the news that their Mars probe’Amal’ (hope) has successfully entered Mars orbit. The UAE is the first to launch a Mars probe in the Arab world. yunhap news

Local media and foreign media reported on the 9th (local time) that the first Mars probe’Amal’ (Arabic for hope) launched by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) successfully entered Mars orbit.

The Muhammad bin Rashid Space Center (MBRSC), which oversees the UAE’s space advance program, declared that “communication has resumed. Orbital entry was successful” after catching a signal from Amal, the probe that attempted to enter Mars orbit. UAE Prime Minister, Vice President and Dubai leader Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Almaktoum also said, “With this achievement, we have reached the farthest distance in the universe in Arab history.” “A message of hope that we can compete with other worlds throughout the Arab world. That’s our goal”.

The UAE is the first to launch a Mars probe in the Arab world. It is the seventh in the world after the United States, the European Union, Russia, China, India, and Japan. It is the fifth time after the United States, the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency (ESA) and India that it has successfully entered Mars orbit.

An illustration depicting the Mars probe’Amal’ (Arabic meaning hope) launched by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) entering Mars orbit on the 9th (local time). [무함마드 빈 라시드 우주센터(MBRSC) 제공] yunhap news

Amal tried to enter the orbit at 7:30 pm (0:30 on the 10th Korean time) that evening, starting the speed reduction engine and lowering the speed to 18,000 km/h. It has been almost 7 months since it left Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center on July 20, last year by being loaded onto Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ launch vehicle’H2A’.

Amal has flew 495 million kilometers of outer space at a speed of 121,000 kilometers per hour. After successfully entering orbit, Amal orbits Mars once every 55 hours for a year (687 days) at Mars time, performing tasks such as measuring the atmosphere in the upper and lower layers and observing and photographing the surface of Mars.

MBRSC developed Amal over six years in cooperation with the Institute of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado at Boulder, Arizona State University, and the University of California at Berkeley. The UAE is a rich oil-rich country, but is investing heavily in innovative future technologies to prepare for the post-fossil fuel era.

Following Amal’s successful orbital entry to Mars, China’s Mars probe Tianyuan-1 also attempts to enter orbit a day later. American exploration rover’Perseverance’ enters Mars’ atmosphere at dawn on the 19th and attempts to land.