UAE announces launch of mission to Mars

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum talks to journalists after announcing a UAE Mars mission named “Hope”. Image by AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili

Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum talks to journalists after announcing a UAE Mars mission named “Hope” or “al-Amal” in Arabic which is scheduled be launched in 2020, during a ceremony in Dubai on Wednesday. It would be the Arab world’s first space probe to Mars and will take seven to nine months to reach the red planet, arriving in 2021. Emirati scientists hope the unmanned probe will provide a deeper understanding of the Martian atmosphere, and expect it to remain in orbit until at least 2023.

(Press Association)