The UAE’s Hope Probe is expected to reach Mars orbit on the evening of 9 February, after nearly 205 days from its launch in July 2020.

According to the Emirates Mars Mission website, the probe aims at achieving three key objectives: understanding the climate dynamics and overall weather of the Red Planet, observing weather changes, and understanding the loss of hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere.

In a recent Instagram post, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and ruler of Dubai, said, “The probe has a 50% success rate in entering Mars’ orbit, but we achieved 90% of our goals in building new knowledge.”

The probe will study Mars over the course of one Martian year, which is the equivalent of two years on Earth. It features three instruments, including the Emirates Infrared Spectrometer for infrared observations, the Emirates Exploration Imager for high-resolution pictures, and the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer to explore the surface’s composition.

The spacecraft was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan, with the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center responsible for the execution and supervision of all stages of the launch.

Images via EMM website.