Abu Dhabi: The UAE is working to establish a data centre as part of the Hope Probe Mars mission which will share its findings with academic institutions and space agencies across the world, a senior official said.
“The data centre will be based in the UAE. as His Highness [Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and the Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai] said this mission is not only for the UAE and the region but for the entire world,” said Omran Sharaf, Project Manager of Emirates Mars Mission at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).
He was speaking on the second day of the Global Space and Satellite Forum 2015 in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Sharaf said the data centre will be ready before the launch of the Hope Probe.
The UAE aims adding value and not just doing what others have done, specifically from the science point of view. Space exploration will lead to giving back to society and serving humanity, he added.
The mission will help science and technology and knowledge-based economies. Although there are many other sectors generating revenue and jobs such as financial services, real estate and tourism, etc, the government has given priority to science and technology to support sustainable development, Sharaf said.
This will create opportunities not only for Emirati engineers but scientists in all disciplines such as physics, chemistry and maths.
“You don’t need to be engineers to derive benefits from the Mars mission. You can focus on your own area of interest,” Sharaf said in response to an Emirati student’s inquiry on the prospects for youngsters.
The Hope probe will help global water mapping and understanding climate dynamics, said Hessa Al Matroushi, Instrument Science Lead, UAE Mars Mission, MBRSC.
Dr Mylawami Annadurai, director of the satellite centre at the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro), said: “India wants to go to Mars with the UAE.”
At a panel discussion, Sarah Amiri, Emirates Mars Mission Science Team Lead at MBRSC, said India shocked the world last year by landing on Mars. Annadurai said that India’s Mars Mission was a logical extension of the Chandrayan mission that detected water on the moon.
Dr Benton C. Clarke, Chief Scientist, Chief Exploration Systems, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, said the UAE mission may shed light on the river systems on Mars. There is speculation that once there was an ocean on Mars, he said.
