Guest essay by Eric Worrall
The United Arab Emirates celebrates the success of its first interplanetary space mission, a probe to monitor and test the Martian atmosphere.
The Arab world basks in the glory of the triumph of the UAE’s Mars mission
Updated February 10, 2021
JUMANA AL-TAMIMI
The Hope probe’s entry into orbit of the Red Planet marked the success of the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission
Tuesday’s feat puts the UAE space agency into a club of just five members who have completed a functioning Mars mission
DUBAI: For months, the Hope probe’s journey to Mars has been eagerly followed by the Arab news media. In the United Arab Emirates, hoards of the unmanned spacecraft (known as Al-Amal in Arabic) were positioned along the highways as part of the country’s 50th anniversary celebrations.
On Tuesday, landmarks across the Arab world, including the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest tower on earth, glowed red to mark the probe’s arrival on Mars.
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Omran Sharaf, Project Manager for the Emirates Mars Mission, announced: “We proclaim to the people of the UAE and the peoples of the Islamic and Arab nations the success of the United Arab Emirates in reaching the orbit of the Red Planet. We thank God.”
The ship swung into high Mars orbit and joined six spaceships that were already operating around the planet – three US, two European and one Indian. Mission controllers had to make a series of fine curves and power adjustments to get the probe into position.
“In fact, everything goes slightly wrong and you lose the spacecraft,” said Sarah Al-Amiri, state minister for advanced technology and chairman of the UAE space agency.
She described the mission’s success as “A historical development and a fulfillment for the dreams of 200 engineers and scientistsWho worked behind the scenes.
The arrival of Hope puts the UAE in a league of only five space agencies in history that have carried out a functioning mission to Mars. Two more unmanned spaceships from the USA and China follow closely behind and will arrive on the planet in the next few days.
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Read more: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1806701/middle-east
From the Australian ABC;
The United Arab Emirates’ Hope Probe reaches Mars on a mission to test the Martian atmosphere and climate
Posted at 11:34 am yesterday, updated 11:37 am yesterday
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The UAE Space Agency, the fifth in the world to reach the planet has a plan for a Mars settlement by 2117.
“Contact to #HopeProbe has been re-established. The Mars orbit insertion is now complete, ”said the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center, where the ruler of Dubai and the crown prince of Abu Dhabi were present to receive the news.
The attempt had a 50 percent chance of failure, said Dubai’s ruler and vice president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
To get into orbit around Mars, the probe had to burn about half of its 800 kilograms of fuel on board, slowing down enough to avoid overshooting the most dangerous part of the journey.
“Today begins a new chapter in Arab history … of confidence in our ability to compete with other nations and people,Sheikh Mohammed tweeted after the probe went into orbit.
“The UAE will celebrate its golden anniversary with science, culture and inspiration because we want to build a development model.”
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Read more: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-10/uae-hope-probe-enters-orbit-in-first-arab-mars-mission/13139658
The UAE Space Agency provided a live tracker page for their mission.
I think that’s a very positive development.
Over a thousand years after the fall of the Roman Empire, the Arab world was an important center of global culture and scientific achievement. The Arabs preserved and built on knowledge that the West lost when Western Europe collapsed into barbarism and anarchy. Much of our knowledge about the first millennium comes from Arab scholars such as Ahmad ibn Fadlān ibn al-Abbās ibn Rāšid ibn Hammād, who was sent in the tenth century by the Abbasid caliph al-Muqtadir to make contact with Russia, whose writings are important today Source of historical knowledge of this time.
The UAE, in my opinion, is at the forefront of the peaceful renaissance of Arab science and culture, and is leading the Arab efforts to regain their former glory and leadership in world politics. When I visited the UAE at a young age, I met a lot of interesting people, even a former Afghan mujahideen. People who were tired of waging endless wars, people who just wanted to get on with life and build a better future. I take you very seriously when you express your intention to establish a colony on Mars.
In this sense, this development is also a message. When the West loses interest in space exploration and colonization, when our culture turns inward and collapses, loses the spark that defined our role in modernity, there are others who are ready to step in, absorb and continue what we started.
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