In July, the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab
nation to aim for Mars with its mission Hope probe. The Hope probe was launched
in a H2-A rocket from Tanegashima spaceport, Japan.
Recently there have been reports
suggesting that the Hope probe has completed its journey halfway to Mars having
started its journey 79 days ago. The total distance to be covered to Mars is
495 million kilometers and till now the orbiter has completed 215.5 million
kilometers
As per Emirates Mars Missions website,
the orbiter is scheduled to reach the destination on February 9 or 10 next
year. While on its way, there certains things that need to be taken care of and
the engineers are gearing up to correct the third course correction maneuver as
it nears the halfway mark.
The aim is get data and information on
upper and lower atmosphere through the weather satellite sent on the planet
where the satellite will be staying in the science orbit of the planet for two
years. Through this procedure, one terabyte of data will be gathered which will
further be shared with scientists and education and research institutions all
over the world.
In an exclusive report by the National,
it was stated that the engineers at the Mohammed
bin Rashid Space Centre's ground control have carried out two course correction
manoeuvres also known as trajectory correction maneuvers. The first TCM took
place on August 11 while the second took place on August 28.
This is done in regular intervals to
ensure that the orbit is on the right path and this is done by firing its
thrusters and bringing it back on the correct path. “The reason why [TCM 3] is
critical is because we are almost halfway through the journey,” said Omran
Sharaf, project director of the mission while talking to the National.
Till
now, the journey for Hope probe seems smooth and stable but once it enters
outer space and gets closer to mars, the journey will become more unstable. The
engineers revealed that apart from solar radiation, one of the most challenging
parts is Mars Orbit Insertion. Apart from India, no other country has been
successful in achieving the milestone in its first attempt.
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