In its first, UAE launches ‘Hope’ mission to Mars from Japan

TIL Desk/World/Tokyo/ The United Arab Emirates launched its first-ever interplanetary Hope Probe mission to Mars from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre at 01:58 am (local time) on Monday. “United Arab Emirates launches its first mission to Mars, the ‘Hope Mars Mission’ from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center,” UAE Space Agency said on its Twitter page.

The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars orbit in about 200 days from now and then begin its mission to study the Red Planet’s atmosphere. Once it enters Mars’ orbit in the first quarter of 2021, the Hope probe will mark the UAE’s 50th anniversary.

The probe will travel 493 million kilometres into space in a journey that will take seven months, and will orbit the Red Planet for one full Martian year of 687 days to provide the first truly global picture of the Martian atmosphere.