The first Arab interplanetary mission is expected to reach Mars’ orbit on February 9 in what is considered the most critical part of the journey to unravel the secrets of weather on the Red Planet.

Try this question from CSP 2014:

Q.Which of the following pair is/are correctly matched?

Spacecraft	Purpose
1. Cassini-Huygens	Orbiting the Venus and transmitting data to the Earth
2. Messenger	Mapping and investigating the Mercury
3. Voyager 1 and 2	Exploring the outer solar system

Select the correct answer using the code given below.

a) 1 only

b) 2 and 3 only

c) 1 and 3 only

d) 1, 2 and 3

Hope Mission

• The Emirates Mars Mission called “Hope” was announced in 2015 with the aim of creating mankind’s first integrated model of the Red planet’s atmosphere.
• Hope weighs over 1500 kg and will carry scientific instruments mounted on one side of the spacecraft, including the Emirates exploration Imager (EXI), which is a high-resolution camera among others.
• The spacecraft will orbit Mars to study the Martian atmosphere and its interaction with outer space and solar winds.
• Hope will collect data on Martian climate dynamics, which should help scientists understand why Mars’ atmosphere is decaying into space.

Objectives of the mission

• Once it launches, Hope will orbit Mars for around 200 days, after which it will enter the Red planet’s orbit by 2021, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the founding of UAE.
• The mission is being executed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, UAE’s space agency.
• It will help answer key questions about the global Martian atmosphere and the loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases into space over the span of one Martian year.

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