UAE launches Mars mission to understand red planet's climate change

A Mars-orbiting spacecraft was launched by the United Arab Emirates overnight, using a rocket from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Al Amal probe, meaning ‘hope’, was launched from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center after being delayed due to bad weather since last Wednesday. READ: Space is the place... for capitalism Launched via a Mitsubishi H-IIA rocket, the US$200mln Emirates Mars Mission is set to travel the 300mln miles and arrive in the vicinity of the red planet by next February. The UAE spacecraft will orbit the planet for 687 days, or one Martian year, to collect atmospheric data. As the first deep space mission of the UAE space agency, Al Amar is designed to help us understand the transformation its nearest neighbour underwent from a warm planet with abundant water to become the cold, dry and carbon-dioxide-dominated planet it is today. The probe was developed over the past six years via collaborators with the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. READ: SpaceX completes launch and Crew Dragon docks with International Space Station “This is a huge accomplishment, but it's just the beginning,” said Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba said shortly after the launch during a virtual watch party. Later this week, China is due to send another Mars orbiter on its way, with the USA planning to fire off a Perseverance six-wheeled planetary rover on July 30.