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<\/p>\nThe United Arab Emirates and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre have begun their first interplanetary voyage: the Emirates Mars Mission.<\/p>\n
The probe, called Al Amal (which translates to \u201cHope\u201d from Arabic), launched on a Japanese H-IIA rocket at 17:58:14 EDT (21:58:14 UTC) from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan to begin a seven-month voyage to Mars.<\/p>\n
Al Amal: The first Arab nation mission to another planet<\/b><\/p>\n
Announced in July 2014, the Emirates Mars Mission began with the goal of placing an Emirati probe in orbit of Mars by 2021.<\/p>\n
The Emirates, in cooperation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan, will seek to make good on that promise with launch of the mission on Sunday.<\/p>\n
In announcing the mission in 2014, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, stated, \u201cThe mission will send three important messages. The first is for the world: that Arab civilization once played a great role in contributing to human knowledge and will play that role again.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second is to our Arab brethren: that nothing is impossible and that we can compete with the greatest of nations in the race for knowledge. The third is for those who strive to reach the highest of peaks: set no limits to your ambitions and you can even reach space.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The mission patch. (Credit: Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre)<\/p>\n
Speaking further about the mission at its announcement, Saeed Gergawi, a member of the strategic planning team at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre, said: \u201cIt is a historic event in the development of the UAE and the region. It is the first scientific research project to explore and excavate Mars and take us as Arabs and Muslims to this new era of science.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astronomy (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n To reinforce the main objectives of the mission, the probe itself was named Al Amal. In choosing the name, Sheikh Mohammed said, \u201cIt sends a message of optimism to millions of young Arabs.\u201d<\/p>\n Information collected by Al Amal will be made freely available to over 200 institutions around the world.<\/p>\n A successful launch results in the mission arriving in orbit of Mars in February 2021, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates next year. <\/p>\n The mission is the first of three major flights to Mars scheduled to depart Earth in the current month-long, once-every-26-months interplanetary launch window.<\/p>\n China is set to follow the Emirates with the launch of the Tianwen-1 three-part Mars orbiter, lander, and rover mission on Thursday, 23 July at 00:00 EDT (04:00 UTC)… itself to be followed by the Perseverance rover from NASA No Earlier Than Thursday, 30 July at 07:50 EDT (11:50 UTC).<\/p>\n The Al Amal probe for the Emirates Mars Mission was built and will be operated by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in cooperation with the University of Colorado-Boulder, Arizona State University, and the University of California, Berkeley in the United States.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n