Three
countries--China, the United States of America and the United Arab
Emirates---have been attempting to draw a road map to Mars for quite some time
now and all the three countries will look to attain their goals this summer
when Mars will be closest to the Earth.
The
UAE being the first one to do that, hopes to send a satellite to Mars in the
coming days to study its weather and climate. Hope--1.3-tonne probe is one of
three missions launching to Mars this month. The US and China both have surface
rovers in the late stages of preparation. After postponing the July 15 launch
this week due to bad weather conditions, the spacecraft is ready to take off
from Japan towards the end of this week. If this happens, it will make
history as the Arab world's first interplanetary mission.
"This is the
golden age of space in the UAE," explained Fatma Hussain Lootah, manager
of the team's instrument science section. "This is the time we decided to
stand out in maybe a sector nobody expected us to develop in, because it's
knowledge-based, it's very science-based,” she further added.
The UAE has not
always been the first one to think of in context with space research and
technologies but with ‘HOPE’ the emirate will look to change this image. Of
course there are a lot of risks involved considering the fact that most of the
missions aimed at Mars fail, Hope project director,
Omran Sharaf, recognises the dangers but insists his country is right to try.
In an interview with the BBC, he says, “This is a research and development
mission and, yes, failure is an option. However, failure to progress as a
nation is not an option. And what matters the most here is the capacity and the
capability that the UAE gained out of this mission, and the knowledge it
brought into the country."
It will essentially
change the image of UAE, as an arab nation being ‘just’ resourceful and not
executive. This will be the nail on the wall for the arab nation. All things
well, this project will be a benchmark for so- called powerful and also will
open the doors for the coming age of the UAE with a solid proof.
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