Dubai: Abu Dhabi: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai and His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, yesterday signed on a metal piece that will be attached to outer structure of the Hope Probe.
The metal piece carries the names and signatures of Their Highnesses Supreme Council Members as well as the signatures of Crown Princes. It is also decorated with a phrase that reads, "The power of hope shortens the distance between earth and sky", in an expression of the sublime human message carried by the UAE for the future of the world.
About 150 Emirati scientists and engineers and researchers are participating in the mission. The probe will blast off for the Red Planet mid-July this year from Tanegashima Space Centre. It will take seven to nine months to reach travelling a distance of 600 million km. It will provide scientific explanations to a number of important research questions that the scientific community is focusing on.
“The UAE under the leadership of President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan has become a hub for the resumption of civilization in the Arab world, an inspirational story for future generations, and a message of hope for the region and the world with a better future,” said Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid and Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed.
Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid noted: “The Hope Probe is a message from the UAE to its people, to our brothers in the Arab world and to our friends around all around the world that believing in the youth and investing in their capabilities is the best bet. Today, we celebrate the elite of minds, scientists and engineers Emiratis who made us very proud with reaching the space,”
The Dubai Ruler added that the Hope Probe is a realistic embodiment of Zayed's ambition and a new step forward in preparing for the next fifty years. It does show how the power of hope can inspire generations and become a catalyst for making a positive change in the lives of people.
“The UAE’s project to discover Mars reaffirms the fact our country has unlimited ambitions and is able to turn challenges into milestones and opportunities that could be harnessed to making the future and supporting human knowledge and civilization," Shaikh Mohammad Bin Zayed emphasized.
“We are very proud of what the UAE experts and engineers have done in the Mars mission. This project is a motivation and a source of inspiration for all peoples of the region. It is an important turning point in the UAE’s space history and represents an essential step to prepare for the next fifty years, the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince added.
The work on the Hope Mars Mission has begun back in November 2015 and is set to be launched into space mid-July this year. There have been only 26 successful missions to Mars, from the United States, Europe, Japan and others. By this mission, the UAE joins these countries to be among the only nine countries in the world to contribute to the discovery of Mars.
The probe will be completely controlled by the UAE from the "Ground station” of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center.
The probe will collect more than 1,000 GB of new data from the Red Planet. The information will be professionally managed, analysed, and stored in a scientific data center in the UAE. The scientific team will index and analyse the data available to humanity for the first time, and later share it with the global scientific community interested in Mars.
