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Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates – (COMMERCIAL WIRE) – The UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center announced the safe transfer of the Mars Hope spacecraft to its launch site at the Tanegashima Space Center. The transfer was made in an 83-hour operation ahead of its scheduled shipment date for May due to travel and movement restrictions imposed by international efforts to contain the Covid-19 impact. The Emirates Mars Mission, called The Hope Probe, is the first interplanetary exploration conducted by an Arab nation.
“We are on track for our launch in July now,” said EMM Mission Leader Omran Sharaf. “Mitigation planning and early action, along with the support of our partners and the Japanese Government, saved the day: the entire operation was basically a race against the clock and Covid-19 to ensure that we managed to have the spacecraft in Tanegashima ready for its July / August Launch Window to Mars.
A team of engineers traveled to Tanegashima two weeks before the probe’s early transfer to go through quarantine in time to fulfill the incoming shipment. A second team of engineers that accompanied the spacecraft is now in quarantine and is scheduled to be ready for final tests and preparation of the spacecraft for launch on a Mitsubishi MH2A rocket.
The transfer operation saw an Antonov 124 heavy lift transport the spacecraft in a specialized temperature and atmosphere controlled container from Maktoum International Airport in the Emirates to Chubu Centrair International Airport in Nagoya, Japan. The spacecraft was loaded onto a sea freighter, brought to the Shimama seaport of Tanegashima, and then transferred overnight to the launch site.
The Emirates Mars Mission was conceived to disrupt and accelerate the development of the UAE space sector, education and scientific community. Led by MBRSC under the supervision of the UAE Space Agency, the mission will send the Mars Hope spacecraft to orbit Mars in February 2021. Hope aims to build the first complete image of Mars’s climate throughout the Martian year.
EMM and the Hope Probe are the culmination of a knowledge transfer and development effort started in 2006, which has seen Emirati engineers working with partners around the world to develop spacecraft design, engineering, and manufacturing capabilities of the UAE. The spacecraft was named as a symbol of hope for all young Arabs.
* Source: AETOSWire
