Hope Probe commences its two-year science mission

Dubai - This comes as the Arab world’s first interplanetary exploration completed its spacecraft and instrument exercises that are used to practice science observations.

The Hope Probe has commenced its two-year science mission starting Sunday and will now begin its science data gathering.

This comes as the Arab world’s first interplanetary exploration completed its spacecraft and instrument exercises that are used to practice science observations.

The probe will yield the first complete picture of Mars’ lower and upper atmospheres throughout the day, night and seasons of a full Martian year.

Hope is following its planned 20,000–43,000km elliptical science orbit, with an inclination to Mars of 25 degrees.

It will complete one orbit of the planet every 55 hours and will capture a full planetary data sample every nine days.

Omran Sharaf, project director of EMM, opined, “Following a successful cruise to Mars, a near-perfect Mars Orbit Insertion manoeuvre and our transition from Hope’s capture orbit to our science orbit, we have completed our commissioning, calibration and testing phase. I am delighted to be able to report that the Mars Hope probe is perfectly positioned to commence its two-year science mission.”

The probe’s three instruments were activated on April 10 and a period of commissioning and testing followed. It’s said the instruments and spacecraft are performing beyond expectations.

Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer

Since the Hope probe entered orbit around Mars, the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) instrument has collected nearly 14,000 spectral-spatial images of the atmosphere, corresponding to 1.6 million individual spectra.

This initial execution of four distinct observation types have demonstrated that the spacecraft and instrument work perfectly in tandem, accurately tracing the EMUS field of view across specific areas of interest. These observations will be repeated throughout the science phase, characterizing the composition and structure of the upper atmosphere as it changes within and across seasons.