Hope

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

Hope — Al-Amal in Arabic — is the United Arab Emirates' first mission beyond Earth, and the first interplanetary mission by any Arab nation. It was conceived not only as science but as inspiration: a deliberate effort to build a knowledge economy and spark a generation of Emirati scientists and engineers, completed in just six years by a young team, many in their twenties and thirties, working with international partners. Launched in July 2020 and arriving at Mars in February 2021 — timed for the fiftieth anniversary of the UAE's founding — Hope settled into an unusually wide, high orbit. That vantage is the key to its mission. Where most Mars orbiters fly low and study small patches of the surface in detail, Hope hangs far out and watches the whole planet at once, building the first complete picture of the Martian weather as it changes through the day and across the seasons. From there its instruments track dust storms, water-ice clouds and the daily cycle of temperature, and study how hydrogen and oxygen — the remnants of Mars's lost water — escape from the top of the atmosphere into space. Understanding that escape helps explain how Mars, once warmer and wetter, became the cold desert it is today. Hope made the UAE only the fifth space power to reach Mars, and the data it returns is shared openly with researchers around the world. More than a scientific instrument, it stands as a symbol of what a small nation can achieve in space, and of the Arab world's entry into planetary exploration.

1. 2020Launch toward MarsLaunch

   The UAE's first interplanetary mission lifts off from Japan.

2. 2021Mars orbit insertionArrival

   Hope enters orbit on the 50th anniversary of the UAE's founding.

3. 2021Watching the whole planetMilestone

   From a wide, high orbit, Hope builds the first full picture of Martian weather.

Images

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