The Emirates Mars Mission, “Hope Probe” or “Al Amal” in Arabic, is scheduled to liftoff from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre on Tuesday and begin a seven-month journey to the Red Planet. The probe is expected to enter Mars’ orbit in 2021, coinciding with the UAE’s 50th anniversary.
The mission will contribute vital knowledge to the global space community and prove that the UAE, a young nation with a newly-formed space exploration programme, can achieve this breakthrough by prioritising an ambitious advanced sciences agenda.
Days before this historic lift-off, two barrier-breaking leaders, UAE Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission Sarah Al Amiri, and Dr. Ellen Stofan, Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum and former Chief Scientist of NASA, offered these views on A Reason for “Hope,” the third episode of Podbridge, a new podcast series launched by the UAE Embassy and hosted by Yousef Al Otaiba, UAE Ambassador to the US.
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First announced in 2014, the Emirates Mars Mission represents the culmination of an innovative knowledge transfer and development programme between the UAE and international partners. Working closely with US educational institutions such as the University of Colorado, University of California-Berkeley and Arizona State University, Emirati scientists completed the Arab world’s first interplanetary space probe while laying the foundations for a sustainable and dynamic space exploration industry in the UAE.
“In six short years, the Emirates Mars Mission programme has created a brand-new industry that is transforming the UAE’s science community,” said UAE Minister of Advanced Technology Sarah Al Amiri. “With the support of countless international experts, we have taken an inspiration and turned that into reality by developing homegrown talent and expertise, while investing in state-of-the-art universities and laboratories. The Hope probe now sits atop a rocket ready for launch, fulfilling the UAE’s journey to Mars promise.”
“It is incredibly exciting that space exploration is not limited to simply a handful of countries with many years of experience in this field,” said Dr. Ellen Stofan, Director of the National Air and Space Museum. “We need the collaboration of the worldwide scientific community and that requires nurturing a global pool of talent. Space does not belong to one country, but to all of us. As the former Chief Scientist at NASA, I witnessed firsthand the remarkable growth of the UAE programme and the Emirates Mars Mission is a milestone event that supporters of space travel worldwide should applaud.”
During the podcast, Minister Al Amiri and Dr. Stofan also spoke about their careers as female trailblazers in a male-dominated profession and offered advice to young people who are passionate about science and space.
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