As UAE's Hope probe nears Mars, crew gets ready for all scenarios

Dubai - The Emirates Mars Mission team had created its own systems and software to take Hope from Earth into deep space and all the way to Mars.

When the UAE’s Hope probe fires all its thrusters for its most crucial manoeuvre towards the Martian orbit, the hard work of the team that developed its systems from scratch will come into fruition.

During Hope’s upcoming Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) — the most critical phase of the mission — the spacecraft’s system will be tested for the first time for nearly 30 minutes straight.

“The MOI is one of the most risky phases in the mission. The main reason behind it is because for the first time we use our system and platform that has been developed for deep space to perform this operation for a long time. The previous critical phase was the launch phase, but there we used the MHI launcher. A launcher that has heritage and success rate,” said Omran Sharaf, project director of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) during a media briefing on Tuesday.

The EMM team had created its own propulsion system and onboard control systems and software to take Hope from Earth into deep space — all the way to Mars, Sharaf explained.

“The direction from the government since day one was very clear: You have to build it not buy it. This is the system that has been built by our EMM team with our partners that will be put to use in space for 27 minutes non-stop. During this time the speed of the spacecraft will decelerate from its cruising speed of 121,000kmph down to 18,000 kmph to achieve MoI. So there are high risks involved at every stage,” he added.

Hope is expected to enter the Martian orbit on February 9 at 7.42pm (UAE time).

During the complex MoI manoeuvre, there are possible failure scenarios. Assuming one of the six main Delta-V thrusters of the Hope probe stops functioning, different contingency plans are ready, said Suhail Butti Al Dhafri, deputy project manager for the spacecraft.

“If one of the thrusters fails which usually works in pairs, then the probe can function with the remaining two pairs of its thrusters. If six thrusters work, then the spacecraft works for 27 minutes and if two thrusters stop, it will continue firing for a longer period during MOI,” Al Dhafri said.

nandini@khaleejtimes.com