United Arab Emirates’ Mars probe successfully launched and phones home

The United Arab Emirates has successfully launched a Mars probe. The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) aims to orbit the red planet with a probe named “Hope” that will gather data to help humanity build a proper Martian weather map, characterise the planet’s lower atmosphere and offer an explanation of why Mars is losing Hydrogen …

[John Jennings]

Best of luck

Best of luck on this mission. Getting to other planets is hard - we have seen that before - I Hope it all goes well for them.

[anthonyhegedus]

A sort of ship of the desert, if you will.

[Waseem Alkurdi]

Honestly no idea what are they proud of

but the mission is significant as it is the first interplanetary effort mounted by an Arab nation. As such it is the source of considerable pride.

If the technology is sourced from Japan, the actual probe was built in the United States, and the expertise is sourced from the West, where's the "Arab" angle? That they funded the project?

It's good that they did *something*, but had they channelled these funds to actually train people who would build the aircraft and manage the mission from top to bottom (perhaps like the Mangalyaan project), it would have been a source of actual pride. Until then, it's just another demonstration of how rich these guys are, not of their actual will to contribute.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Honestly no idea what are they proud of

Well, I suppose; but at least it's a start, and there are far worse things they might spend the money on...

[David Nash]

Re: Honestly no idea what are they proud of

According to the BBC story:

"Emirati and US engineers and scientists worked alongside each other to design and build the spacecraft systems and the three onboard instruments that will study the planet."

and

"considerable work was also undertaken at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai."

and quoting the University of Boulder, Colorado LASP spokesperson:

"Their propulsion engineers have now done it and they know how to do it the next time they build a spacecraft."

So let's not take it away from them. Anyone putting together a Mars mission for the first time is going to need to lean heavily on others' experience.

[JCitizen]

@David Nash

Thank you for that post; very interesting and encouraging. Looking at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre,on Google Earth, it is not clear where the launch pad is.

[Trigonoceps occipitalis]

Re: Honestly no idea what are they proud of

Standing on the shoulders of giants perhaps but we all learn to walk holding onto a parent before running.