The United Arab Emirates has announced details of its uncrewed Mars probe, which it plans to launch in 2020 to monitor the planet鈥檚 atmosphere from orbit. The spacecraft, named , will be a big step up from the country鈥檚 previous space activities as it attempts to compete with other emerging space powers like India and China.
鈥淭he UAE Mars probe represents the Islamic world鈥檚 entry into the era of space exploration,鈥� said UAE president Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan last year when was first announced. Now UAE has announced its scientific goals for the mission, which include mapping the planet鈥檚 weather and studying its atmosphere.
So far the UAE has only launched a couple of small Earth-observing satellites, so Hope will be a significant upgrade. The Mars probe will carry spectrometers for analysing infrared and ultraviolet signals, along with a digital camera. These will measure water, dust and other molecules in the planet鈥檚 atmosphere, in an attempt to learn how Mars transitioned from a wet, warm world to the dry, dusty one we see today.
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These goals are similar to those of MAVEN and MOM, two Mars probes launched last year by NASA and the Indian space agency ISRO, but the UAE isn鈥檛 just replicating those missions. 鈥淭he measurements are unique and distinct from those made by MAVEN from its current orbit,鈥� says David Brain of the University of Colorado, who is part of the MAVEN team and will also be working with the UAE on Hope. 鈥淭he science is complementary to MAVEN science.鈥�
