The United Arab Emirates Space Agency released the first photo of Mars taken by Hope Probe on Sunday.
“Transmitting the first image of the Hope Probe on Mars is a turning point in our history and marks the United Arab Emirates’s accession to the advanced nations involved in space exploration,” Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said. Twitter.
Transmitting the first image of Mars of the Probe of Hope is a defining moment in our history and marks the United Arab Emirates joining the advanced nations involved in space exploration. We hope that this mission will lead to new discoveries about Mars that will benefit humanity. pic.twitter.com/TCM5yHTapH
– Mohammed bin Zayed (@MohamedBinZayed) February 14, 2021
He added: “We hope that this mission will lead to new discoveries about Mars that will benefit humanity.”
On Tuesday, the UAE mission became the first in an Arab country to reach the red planet, neighboring Earth. Space experts have set a 50% chance of entering Mars orbit, CNBC reported.
The Hope spacecraft took about seven months to reach Mars. The UAE agency has planned to orbit the red planet for an entire Martian year, about two years on Earth, studying the planet’s atmosphere, according to the agency.
The first image transmitted from the UAE probe was captured from 25,000 km above the planet’s surface, according to the agency.
The Hope UAE spacecraft was one of three spacecraft to land on the red planet this month. The Chinese spacecraft Tianwen-1, which shared the first photo of Mars on February 5, arrived a day after the UAE survey. NASA’s Perseverance Rover is scheduled to land on Thursday.
In a video posted on Friday, an engineer from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory described the period of entry, descent and landing on the planet as “seven minutes of terror.”
After the Martian atmosphere breaks, it will take about seven minutes to reach Earth, said Swati Mohan, head of Mars 2020 Guidance, Navigation & Control Operations.
“If we know one thing, it’s that landing on Mars is never easy,” said Marc Etkind, NASA’s associate communications administrator, in a statement posted on NASA’s website.
When Perseverance lands on Thursday, it will have a solar-powered helicopter called Ingenuity in its belly. NASA plans to launch one or more flights within 30 days, according to its website.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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