The Probe of Hope begins its scientific mission to explore Mars

The Emirates Mars Exploration Project Probe of Hope confirmed, Sunday, that all necessary preparations have been completed to start the scientific mission of the probe.

This came after conducting the necessary tests to ensure the accuracy and safety of the scientific devices that the probe carries onboard, which proved that the performance of these devices exceeds expectations.

The scientific mission of the Hope Probe begins on Sunday, May 23, 2021, and will continue for two years, with the aim of obtaining the first complete picture of the various layers of the Martian atmosphere during the day and at night and all the seasons of the Martian year that are equivalent to two Earth years.

Mission accomplished successfully

Engineer Imran Sharaf, Director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, The Hope Probe, said, after the successful flight to Mars, and the near-perfect maneuver to enter the planet's orbit and our transition from the orbit to capture the Hope probe to the scientific orbit, we have completed the calibration and testing phase. I am pleased to announce that the Hope Probe is in an ideal position to start its two-year scientific mission.

He added that the start of the scientific mission of the probe culminates in years of hard work and dedication to the UAE project team to explore Mars from young national cadres in partnership and cooperation with international partners of the project, which is a qualitative contribution from the UAE in the scientific progress of humanity as it will provide unprecedented information about the Red Planet.

Comprehensive image of Mars climate

For her part, Hessa Al-Matroushi, Deputy Director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, The Hope Probe for scientific affairs, confirmed that with the start of the scientific stage of the Hope Probe, the scientific equipment it carries onboard will work to provide a clear and comprehensive picture of the climate of Mars at all times throughout a Martian year. This information, which the UAE will share with the global scientific community for free, will help scientists and researchers reach a deeper scientific understanding of the processes taking place inside the Martian atmosphere, especially with regard to the disappearance of the oxygen and hydrogen gases, which are the two main constituents of water, which may help in Interpretation of many scientific phenomena associated with this planet.

Activating scientific devices

The three scientific devices carried by the probe were successfully activated on April 10, that is, before the predetermined date, to be followed by the calibration and testing phase, and the project team found during the calibration and testing processes that the performance and accuracy of these devices exceeded expectations so far.

This color image by combining visible red light beams of 635 nm wavelength and ultraviolet light beams of 320 nm wavelength, and the red visible image clearly shows the dark and light areas on the surface of Mars, while the ultraviolet image highlights the clouds of water ice, and The image was taken on April 22, 2021, while the Hope Probe is located at a solar longitude of approximately 35 degrees, coinciding with springtime in the northern hemisphere of Mars.

The Hope Probe carries 3 scientific devices: the EXI digital camera, which is a digital camera to capture high-resolution color images of the planet Mars and is also used to measure ice and ozone in the lower layer of the atmosphere, and the EMIRS Infrared Spectrometer, which measures the temperature and distribution of dust and vapor Water and ice clouds in the lower atmosphere of the red planet, in addition to EMUS, which measures oxygen and carbon monoxide in the Martian thermal layer and hydrogen and oxygen in the outermost layer of Mars.

The EXI digital exploration camera carried by the probe has taken more than 500 images of Mars since the probe moved to scientific orbit in early April 2021, and the camera will now focus on mapping the clouds of icy water in the Martian atmosphere as the red planet enters the cloudy season.

During the current period, and in the shadow of spring and summer in the northern half of Mars, a belt of clouds is forming near the equator. The Hope Probe will have a unique view of these clouds, through its unique location and ability to monitor the changing dynamics of the atmosphere during the daily and seasonal cycles.

As for the EMIRS Infrared Spectrometer, since the entry of the Probe of Hope into the orbit of Mars, the scale on board the probe has collected illustrative scientific data, calibrated the scale correctly, in addition to processing the data collected routinely and periodically. In total, the scale has collected more than 130,000 spectral images since its arrival on Mars.

This image was obtained by the ultraviolet spectroscopy "EMUS" on May 10, 2021, and shows the sun's rays reflected from the cloud of atomic hydrogen surrounding the planet Mars, which appears in the center only as a dark disk hidden in the depths of the fog. Atomic hydrogen is formed as a result of the process of splitting water molecules by sunlight and then spreading to the upper atmosphere and disappearing some of it to space

and cities by more than 40 explanatory scientific observations previously planned, covering a large part of the day on Mars.

An example of a dataset is shown here showing what kind of data the infrared spectrometer will collect, throughout its mission around the red planet (Figure X).

Through an infrared beam, the Mars scale will monitor surface and atmospheric temperature, and measure the visual depth of dust, ice clouds, and the abundance of water vapor in the atmosphere, throughout Mars day, and on semi-seasonal time scales. This data, along with that of the UV spectrophotometer and digital exploration camera, will provide a detailed and unprecedented view of the Martian climate and explain the processes of decaying the Red Planet's atmosphere.

As for the EMUS ultraviolet spectrometer, since the arrival of the Probe of Hope to Mars orbit, it has managed to collect important scientific data, illustrating nearly 14,000 spatial-spectral images of the atmosphere, equivalent to 1.6 million individual spectra.

The initial operation of four different types of scientific processes with this device showed that it works perfectly and accurately tracks targets in its field of view. Some of the data collected from the scale were used to create the image in (Figure X), and the scale will continue to collect these scientific observations throughout the scientific stage to help us understand the composition and structure of the upper atmosphere of Mars and the changes that occur to it during the different seasons.

Hope probe

The Hope Probe is currently rotating in its planned scientific orbit around Mars between 19,974 to 42,651 kilometers and at an angle of 25 degrees. The probe will complete one orbit around the planet every 55 hours and record a complete sample of data about the planet every nine days.