The United Arab Emirates space agency released its first photo of Mars on Sunday, taken by its Hope Probe.
“The broadcast of the first image of Mars by the Hope Probe is a defining moment in our history and marks the UAE’s entry into advanced countries involved in space exploration,” said Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Twitter
The Hope Probe’s broadcast of the first image of Mars is a defining moment in our history, marking the UAE’s entry into advanced countries involved in space exploration. We hope this mission will lead to new discoveries about Mars that will benefit humanity. pic.twitter.com/TCM5yHTapH
– Mohammed bin Zayed (@MohamedBinZayed) February 14, 2021
He added, “We hope this mission will lead to new discoveries about Mars that will benefit humanity.”
On Tuesday, the UAE mission was the first to reach the red planet, Earth’s neighbor, from an Arab country. Space experts estimate the odds of entering Mars orbit at about 50 percent, CNBC reported.
The Hope Probe took about seven months to reach Mars. The UAE agency planned to orbit the red planet for a full Mars year, roughly two Earth years, and study the planet’s atmosphere, the agency said.
The first image transmitted by the UAE probe was captured from 25,000 km above the Earth’s surface, according to the agency.
The UAE Hope Probe was one of three spacecraft to reach the red planet this month. The Chinese Tianwen-1 craft, which shared its first photo of Mars on Feb. 5, arrived in the UAE a day after the probe. NASA’s Perseverance rover will land on the planet next Thursday.
In a video posted Friday, an engineer from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory described the period of entry, descent and landing on the planet as “seven minutes of terror.”
After the Martian atmosphere is breached, it will take about seven minutes for Perseverance to reach the ground, said Swati Mohan, leader of Mars 2020 Guidance, Navigation & Control Operations.
“If there is one thing we know, it is that landing on Mars is never easy,” Marc Etkind, NASA associate administrator for Communications, said in a statement on the NASA website.
When Endurance lands Thursday, it will have a solar-powered helicopter called Ingenuity in its stomach. NASA plans to launch one or more flights within 30 days, according to its website.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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