New episode of UAE’s ‘Reach for the Stars’ series on Hope Probe to Mars premieres on Wednesday

Dubai: The long-awaited third episode of ‘Reach for the Stars’ about the UAE’s Hope Probe to Mars is set to premiere on Wednesday at 8.30pm (UAE time) on National Geographic Channel.

The episode follows the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) on an epic journey as Hope Probe, the first Arab interplanetary mission, reaches its Mars orbit.

Reach for the Stars is a four-part documentary series, which takes viewers on a journey into the heart of the UAE space programme. The series is airing on the National Geographic Channel, available on OSN, BEIN, Etisalat and du.

What the probe does

Launched on July 20 last year, Hope Probe is currently orbiting the Red Planet to create a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere. “The mission has exceeded its anticipated performance, encompassing a range of additional activities and freeing up valuable resources to perform additional observations,” said EMM.

Hope Probe will complete one orbit of Mars every 55 hours and will capture a full planetary data sample every nine days in a two-year mission to map the Red Planet’s atmospheric dynamics.

Global release

According to EMM, the first science data from the mission will be released globally with no embargo, following a period of validation and checking, in October. “Hope Probe is the culmination of a knowledge transfer and development effort started in 2006, which has seen Emirati engineers working with partners around the world to develop the UAE’s spacecraft design, engineering and manufacturing capabilities,” EMM added.