Landing on a desert from a desert - The UAE lands on Mars
Op-Ed by Cibelle Korban, Staff Writer
March 1st, 2021
The United Arab Emirates has yet again remarkably reached for the stars but this time landing on Mars via the Hope Probe that has successfully entered Mar’s orbit. According to the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), a French space embassy, the UAE is recognized as a rising power in the field of space exploration, making it an official member to compete in the space race. The UAE’s Hope Probe Mars mission has successfully outshined Russia, which was the first country to land a spacecraft on Mars around five decades ago. Thus, the UAE crossed a huge milestone in its mission fueled by hope – naming the mission “Hope Probe”. Not only has it out shunned Russia, but also the Indian Space Organization (ISRO), which has also landed their spacecraft on Mars back in 2014.
So, why Mars? Mars, known as the red planet, has captured human imagination and space exploration for centuries. Today, there is a great deal of information that is already exposed on Mars and technologies have proved themselves adequate to visit the planet several times in hopes of expanding human life and civilization to Mars and other planets.
After the UAE’s maneuver and mission completion that occurred on February 9, 2021, the UAE is placed among the ranks of leaders in the field of space sciences amongst the six powers of the world who have managed to land in outer space: US, Europe, China, Japan, Russia, and India. Thus, adding the UAE as the seventh force.
Now, before we delve into aspects of the space race, let us look at a timeline of country landings on Mars. Russia, formerly known as the Soviet Union, was the first country to land its spacecraft on Mars in 1971 and 1973, followed by the United States with eight successful visits to Mars between 1976 and 2018. The European Union in 1993 and India in 2014 have also joined the party on Mars. Moreover, the Hope Probe’s arrival to Mars will make the UAE the second nation to reach the Red Planet from its very first attempt, India being the first.
So, what makes UAE’s trip to Mars so unique and astonishing? The UAE rose from life in the desert, adapted, and developed its way to build innovative technologies, infrastructure, businesses, and financial services. Nevertheless, the history of the Arab world boasts a rich legacy fueled with knowledge and science which they have implemented in the astronomical field.
Upon arriving to Mars after travelling 493 million kilometers in a seven-month journey ever since its launch back on July 20, 2020 from Japan, this mission aims to provide the first-ever complete picture of the Red Planet, as well as it will explore and record the climactic dynamics in seasonal timescales for a period of a whole year on Mars, which is equivalent to 687 days on earth. Furthermore, the UAE will gather and send back chunks of data and surveillance from Mars – possibly some scandalous photos of life in Mars – back to the Science Data Centre in the UAE.
So, what does this mean for the UAE? This means more than 5 million working hours by over 200 employees, and possibly more, thus creating future employment opportunities for the thriving nation. This mission also changes worldwide attitudes and perspectives on the region, away from extremism, turmoil, and instability. Also, the mission has potential investment and training opportunities for various fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
Furthermore, this could potentially mean Space Tourism for Dubai by the year 2023. The UAE has ambitious plans to launch commercial operations from Dubai alongside the Spanish start-up EOS-X-Space, which is looking to launch the concept of a space tourism site. This investment ranges from $94.8 million to $11.8 million. EOS-X-Space promises to transport people in pressurized capsules propelled by helium balloons at an altitude of 40 km. Furthermore, this mission aims to transport up to 10,000 people to the Red Planet by 2030 and transform Dubai into a space hub and an intermediary that connects people to space.
So, who would have guessed that an Arab nation would be at the top of paving their way into Mars? This journey that cost the UAE $200 million has not only been a magnificent success, but also the best birthday present anyone could get as this year marks the 50th birthday of the UAE as a country.
Ironically, we must have all thought to ourselves at one point in time that the UAE should focus on its oil-rich resources. However, what do you do when you’ve been swimming and drowning in never-ending oil reserves everywhere you dig? You decide to land on Mars for a change. But it’s not just that, the UAE has been researching, planning, and investing in space research and development ever since 2014, when they launched their space agency and after launching satellites in 2009 and 2013 with the assistance of South Korea.
Besides, the government of the UAE has exhaustively launched various campaigns to expand its STEM sectors [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] in hopes of encouraging more students to delve into these fields. But it’s not just their transition from oil or construction that has been a major eye-opening topic. It is the fact that their trip to Mars was female-led and empowered with women constituting 80% of the team – rearranging the statement from “Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus” to “Men are sent to Mars by Women from Venus.”
There is so much to discuss when it comes to the UAE and their journey to Mars, including the many challenges they may face all the while prolonging their prosperity, development, and innovations. The year 2021 certainly looks very rewarding for the UAE, beginning the year with their Israeli peace agreement that will further boom their business, tourism, financial, investment, and food sector followed by their journey to Mars. This may be hard to imagine but today’s innovative and hyper-modern UAE did not exist 100 years ago when only scattered Bedouin tribes roamed around the gigantic red desert – the same parallel landscape that exists on Mars. Could this be a Mars-inspired reborn formation of a nation that has once risen, transformed, and modernized itself in the past from a flaming hot Red desert?
References
Natasha, Turak. (2021, February 10). United Arab Emirates becomes the first Arab country to reach Mars. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/09/mars-probe-uae-attempts-to-become-first-arab-country-to-reach-mars-with-hope-probe.html
UAE spacecraft reaches Mars in a milestone for Arab nations. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/uae-spacecraft-reaches-mars-milestone-arab-nations
El-Showk, S. (2020). UAE probe aims for Mars—and payoffs on Earth.
Sharaf, O., Amiri, S., AlMheiri, S., Wali, M., AlShamsi, Z., AlRais, A., ... & Forget, F. (2017, January). Emirates mars mission (emm) overview. In 6th international workshop on the Mars atmosphere: modelling and observations, Granada, Spain (pp. 17-20).