The United Arab Emirates is one step closer to becoming an interplanetary country with the successful launch of the Arab world’s first mission to Mars.…
The United Arab Emirates is one step closer to becoming an interplanetary country with the successful launch of the Arab world’s first mission to Mars. The Hope, or Al Amal, probe has taken off from Tanegashima, Japan, with an assist from a Mitsubishi rocket booster.
As with all rocket launches, this one started with a countdown. But like many aspects of the mission, it was historic. For the first time, those 10 seconds to launch were broadcast in Arabic. The mission was not without its hiccups earlier with weather in Japan forcing the team to delay twice. And a bigger issue, the shadow of the coronavirus pandemic, has hovered over the mission.
« The pandemic was not something we had in the program, » Fahad Al Mehri, executive director of the space sector at the UAE space agency, said during a live broadcast. « It’s not something we could engineer ourselves around.
