With the first maneuver, the Hope probe successfully moves into scientific orbit

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The Emirates Mars Exploration Project Probe of Hope announced, on Monday, that the probe will move from the capture orbit to the scientific orbit, after the success of the first maneuver by operating the propulsion motors of the probe, which lasted for 8.56 minutes.

The probe is now in its final orbit around Mars, in preparation for the start of its two-year scientific mission, and it may require only a slight direction of its path at a later time.

Imran Sharaf, Director of the Emirates Mars Exploration Project, said, the move of the Hope probe into the scientific orbit was very important, and I can say that it was the last critical moment for the mission, due to the possibility of losing the probe during the maneuver. We are currently evaluating the results of that operation, but we are confident of We don't need to do another big maneuver to adjust the orbit.

The Al-Amal probe moved from the capture orbit of 1063 km to 42,461 km, to a scientific orbit of 20,000 km to 43,000 km. This maneuver is the last dangerous operation to use propulsion engines during Hope's journey since it was launched into space on July 20, 2020.

The scientific stage of the probe will begin on April 14th, with a number of calibration and testing processes aimed at ensuring the safety of the three scientific devices and ensuring the accuracy of their scientific measurements. The scientific mission of the probe, which will extend for two years of collecting scientific data, will begin on May 23, 2021.

In turn, said Hessa Al Matrooshi, Deputy Project Manager for Scientific Affairs, once we are able to reach our stable scientific orbit and start using our scientific tools, we will start building data sets and testing our systems through live data. Open through our website.

The process of collecting scientific data about the Red Planet is a complex process that consists of making several revolutions around Mars and determining each set of measurements to build an integrated picture of the movement of dust, ice and water vapor in the layers of the planet's atmosphere. In addition, the probe will measure atmospheric temperatures and diffusion of hydrogen gas, oxygen, carbon monoxide and ozone.

Hope's unique elliptical orbit, at a 25-degree angle, enables high-resolution data and images of the planet's atmosphere to be collected every 225 hours (9.5 days).

The Hope Probe carries three scientific instruments: the Exploration Camera, which is a 12-megapixel digital camera that captures high-resolution images of Mars, as well as measuring water ice and ozone in the lower layer of the atmosphere via ultraviolet beams.

The probe carries an infrared spectrometer, a spectrometer that collects information on surface and atmosphere temperatures and measures the general distribution of dust, ice clouds and water vapor in the lower Martian atmosphere.

In addition, the probe carries an ultraviolet spectrometer, which measures oxygen and carbon monoxide in the atmosphere and the hydrogen and oxygen diversity in the upper atmosphere of the red planet.

It is noteworthy that the engineers of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center have worked on the design and construction of the Probe of Hope and its scientific equipment in cooperation with international knowledge partners, including the Laboratory of Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder, Arizona State University and the University of California Berkeley.

The historic Al-Amal probe journey to the Red Planet coincides with the year of celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of the United Arab Emirates.