The United Arab Emirates celebrates its first mission at Mars

Context:

The United Arab Emirates has put a probe called Hope in orbit around the planet, making it only the fifth spacefaring entity to do so after the US, the Soviet Union, Europe, and India.

What is HOPE?

• The unmanned probe — named “Al-Amal”, Arabic for “HOPE” — is a United Arab Emirates mission to Mars.
• HOPE was launched from the Tanegashima Space Center near Minamitane, Japan last year (July 2020).
• HOPE is the Arab world’s first mission to another planet.

Other recent Mars Missions

• China’s Tianwen-1 dual orbiter-rover and
• Perseverance from NASA,

Mangalyaan

• India became the first Asian country to have successfully launched its Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan which has entered the orbit of the red planet in 2014.
• India also became the first country to have entered the Martian orbit in its first attempt.
• India’s MOM (Mars Orbiter Mission) successfully achieved orbit in 2014 to image the entire planet, providing a unique perspective on its weather and surface features.