DUBAI, UAE – A UAE spacecraft was to orbit Mars in the first interplanetary mission of the Arab world on Tuesday, the first of three robotic explorers to arrive on the red planet next week, and half.
The orbiter, named Amal, in Arabic for Hope, traveled 300 million miles in almost seven months to reach Mars in order to map its atmosphere during each season.
A combination of orbiter and lander from China is almost behind, scheduled to arrive on the planet on Wednesday. It will orbit Mars until the rover separates and tries to land on the surface in May to look for signs of ancient life.
A US rover, called Perseverance, is set to join the crowd next week, following a landing on February 18. It will be the first stage in a US-European project that takes a decade to bring the rocks of Mars back to Earth to be examined for. evidence that the planet once housed microscopic life.
About 60% of all missions to Mars ended in failures, crashes, burns, or otherwise failed to demonstrate the complexity of the interplanetary journey and the difficulty of making a descent through the thin atmosphere of Mars.
If it puts an end to this, China will only become the second country to successfully land on Mars. The United States has done it eight times, the first almost 45 years ago. A NASA rover and lander are still working on the surface.
For the United Arab Emirates, it was the country’s first adventure beyond Earth’s orbit, making flying a matter of intense national pride.
For days, landmarks in the United Arab Emirates, including the Burj Khalifa, the tallest tower on Earth, shone red to mark Amal’s early arrival. This year is the 50th anniversary of the country’s founding, drawing even more attention to Amal.
The celestial meteorological station targets an extremely high Martian orbit, 22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers. It has been set to join six spacecraft already operating around Mars: three US, two European and one Indian.
Amal was expected to perform a complicated series, with high stakes, turns and engine triggers to maneuver in orbit and achieve what had escaped so long before.
“Anything goes wrong and you lose the spaceship,” said Sarah al-Amiri, the state minister for advanced technology and chairman of the UAE space agency.
A success would be an extraordinary boost for the UAE’s space ambitions. The country’s first astronaut attacked in space in 2019, making a trip to the International Space Station with the Russians. That’s 58 years after the Soviet Union and the United States launched astronauts.
In the development of Amal, the United Arab Emirates has chosen to work with more experienced partners instead of going alone or buying the spacecraft elsewhere. Its engineers and scientists have worked with researchers at the University of Colorado, the University of California at Berkeley and Arizona State University.
The spacecraft was assembled in Boulder, Colorado, before being sent to Japan for launch in July last year.
All three spacecraft heading for the red planet moved away from each other in a few days, taking advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars – so their arrival time.
The construction and launch of the Amal vehicle costs $ 200 million; which excludes operating costs on Mars. Chinese and American expeditions are considerably more complicated – and more expensive – because of their rovers. NASA’s Perseverance Mission totals $ 3 billion.
The UAE, a federation of seven skeikhdoms, is looking for Amal to ignite the imagination of scientists in the country and his youth and help prepare for a future when oil runs out.
“This mission was never to reach Mars alone,” said Omran Sharaf, Amal’s project manager. “Mars is just a means to a much greater goal.”
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Associated Press writer Malak Harb contributed to the report.