The Hope probe is now set to enter the Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI).
Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and chair of the UAE Space Agency, said it is now on its way to enter the planet’s orbit at 7:45pm UAE time on February 9.
MOI, she explained, is a complex maneuver and the most critical part of this mission, where Hope rapidly decelerates to enter a stable orbit with Mars.
In order to achieve the MOI, the spacecraft is rotated and will fire all six of its Delta-V thrusters for its deceleration burn of 27 minutes. It will also slowly reduce its cruising speed to 18,000 km/hr from 121,000 km/h.
About 10 minutes after the MOI burn, the Hope probe will travel into the dark side of Mars.
The spacecraft has travelled 493.5 million kilometers to reach the Mars orbit.
It was launched last July 2020 from Tanegashima, Japan, and made the UAE the fifth player to reach Mars.
Other countries who have made it are the USA, Soviet Union, China, the European Space Agency, and India. (ES)
