RED PLANET: Are you interested in a sunrise on Mars?
The probe “Hope” the United Arab Emirates sent its first image in March, days after its entry into orbit around the red planet, said Sunday the National Space Agency. The image was taken on Wednesday, a day after the Emirates successfully placed their probe, called “Amal” in Arabic (Hope in English), around the orbit of Mars, becoming the first Arab country to perform such a feat.
La voili la voilou, la première image de la sonde émirienne #Hope autour de Mars !
Absolument splendide…📷Hope Mars Mission /MBRSC pic.twitter.com/z88f1DSTlm
— E. Bottlaender (@Bottlaeric) February 14, 2021
“The Emirates Mars mission captured the image of the solar system’s largest volcano, Olympus Mons, emerging in early morning sunlight,” the agency said in a statement. “The first image of Mars taken by the first Arab probe in history,” tweeted Mohammed ben Rached al-Maktoum, Emir of Dubai and Prime Minister of the country. The probe is designed to provide a complete picture of the meteorological dynamics of the planet. But above all, it is a step towards a much more ambitious goal: the establishment of a human colony on Mars within 100 years.
Unlike the Chinese Tianwen-1 and American Mars 2020 missions, “Hope” will not land on the Red Planet. It is due to use three scientific instruments to monitor the Martian atmosphere and is expected to begin transmitting information in September, data that scientists around the world will have access to.
