The United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched its first Mars probe successfully on Sunday, becoming the first Arab nation to send a probe to the planet.
The UAE began its space program in 2014, as part of an effort to boost its science and technology sector and diversify its economy and society away from its heavy reliance on oil.
The probe, named ‘Hope’ was launched from the Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan with the ‘Hope’ mission tweeting “The Hope Probe is the culmination of every single step that humans have taken throughout history to explore the unknown depths of space”.
The probe is scheduled to reach Mars orbit in February of 2021 and will spend around 687 days orbiting the planet gathering data and studying the Martian atmosphere.
The $200 million program has drawn on expertise from around the world particularly the University of Colorado Boulder in the United States to construct the spacecraft.
The project is a culmination of around 6 years of work by 200 Emirati scientists and engineers.