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the united arab Emirates, is in addition to the space race in the Mars and has just launched its first mission to our neighbor, the red planet. A rocket launched Monday from Japan took the space probe “ Hope ” (“hope” in English), which will orbit Mars next month, February, being, if it does, the first mission interplanetary of an arab country.

The rocket launch of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) occurred at 6.58 local time (21.58 GMT Sunday), the estimated time, from the space center Tanegashima , at the southwestern end of Japan. In reality, the mission had to be taken off last Wednesday, but heavy rains in the area led to the postponement until Friday, which again was postponed for this Monday. MHI confirmed the success of the launch, whose trajectory was as planned: 57 minutes after take-off confirmed the separation of the rocket from the spacecraft that carried the probe to Mars.

The probe “Hope” will travel 495 millions of miles to enter the orbit of the red planet in February 2021 , coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the formation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The mission emiratí to Mars is the first of three international missions scheduled to reach in February our neighbor cosmic; predictably, the next will be (with your mission Tianwen-1, which is lenzará this week), and, later, the united States ( Mars 2020 will take off is expected at the end of July).

What will make “Hope” in Mars

The objective of “Hope” is the study of the climate and atmosphere of Mars , in addition to shed light “on the causes that led to the disappearance of the water and to opportunities of life on the red planet”, according to officials emiratíes.

The probe, developed by the Center for Spatial Mohamed bin Rashid, was assembled at the University of Colorado Boulder, in the united States, sent to Dubai later and after that came to the launch base japanese Tanegashima in mid-may aboard the cargo plane largest in the world, the Antonov 12. For its part, the central part of the rocket was manufactured in the plant of MHI of Tobishima, in the center of Japan, and transported by ship to the space center on Tanegashima.

The rocket carried the space probe was 53 metres high and has a diameter of 4 metres, with a propeller engine main and two additional, also of 4 meters of diameter . Today was the forty-fifth successful launch in a row of MHI.

The press release of MHI sets out a statement of the president of the Space Agency of UAE, Ahmad Belhoul al Falasi , in which he emphasized that the operation today is “a historic milestone” for his country. “With this achievement, the U.S. has become the youngest nation that launched a successful mission to Mars six years after the start of the project”, he added.