Hope Mars Mission – al-Amal

Credit: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre MBRSC

On July 14, 2020, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) will launch a probe from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. This probe will be carried by the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H-IIA launch vehicle and travel to Mars by February 2021. It will then orbit the planet for about 2 years, observing the weather with several internationally designed instruments. This is the goal of the U.A.E. and is expected to send a message to millions of Arabs and all Muslims on the possibilities that they can achieve. This is why the mission is called the Hope Mars Mission or al-Amal (مسبار الأمل‎). Another name that is used is the Emirates Mars Mission.

The orbiter was built by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) cooperating with the University of Colorado Boulder, Arizona State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. It will have three specific scientific instruments to accomplish its mission. The Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) is a camera for capturing high resolution photos of the planet. It was designed by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder. They also designed the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) for examining the atmosphere out to the limit with space for oxygen and hydrogen. The Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS) will study the planet’s temperature, ice and water vapor. It was made by the Arizona State University and MBRSC.