February 9th local time, the UAE’s “Hope” Mars mission team held a press conference to announce that after a long journey of more than 400 million kilometers, the “Hope” Mars rover had successfully entered orbit around Mars.
According to the UAE’s “Hope” Mars mission team, since “Hope” was launched from Earth on July 20, 2020, it has been operated by the ground to accurately reach the predetermined place of Mars orbit.
At about 19:30 Dubai time on February 9, 2021, Hope activated six thrusters, rapidly slowing its speed from 121,000 kilometers per hour to 18,000 kilometers per hour.
Due to the delay in communication between Mars and Earth, UAE scientists received a signal from Hope at about 20:10, confirming that Hope was successfully captured by Mars’ gravity and entered orbit around Mars.
Next, Hope will orbit around three times under ground control, and it will take eight weeks to enter an elliptical orbit between 20,000 kilometers and 43,000 kilometers in diameter, and conduct a complete analysis of Mars’ atmosphere (687 days).
Hope’s design life is one Mars year, and it is actually possible to reach two Mars years. The Hope team will publish all the data obtained in a timely and public way through the website, according to UAE scientists.
