2 February 2021
In July 2020 the UAE successfully launched the ‘Hope’ probe designed to explore the climate of Mars. This is a hugely ambitious project, the first probe of its kind, and the first interplanetary probe sent by any Arab country.
The Emirates Mars Mission is designed to orbit Mars and study the dynamics in the Martian atmosphere on a global scale, and on both diurnal and seasonal timescales.
The Society was delighted to be joined by an expert panel to brief the Emirates Society on the latest developments.
H.E. Sarah al-Amiri, the UAE’s Minister of State for Advanced Sciences and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, was joined by Omran Sharaf, the Project Manager of the United Arab Emirates' first mission to Mars, and the Director of the Programs Management Department at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, a United Arab Emirates Space Agency.
They updated us on the mission and what the UAE hopes to achieve through it – in terms of scientific findings and also as a broader message about international cooperation and sharing of knowledge.
Sir Ian Blatchford, Director of the UK’s Science Museum Group, put this mission into the context of humanity’s wider efforts to explore and understand space.
HE Ambassador Mansoor Abulhoul also joined us to discuss this extraordinary project and the webinar was anchored by our Chairman, Rt Hon Alistair Burt.