The UAE has partnered up with US space agency NASA for a Mars mission to boost their scientific collaborations on the Red Planet.
The first interplanetary exploration Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) of the country has completed a science data report analysis collaboration initiative with NASA’s MAVEN Mars Mission to improve scientific returns from both spacecraft – presently orbiting around Mars and observing the atmosphere of the Red Planet.
The partnership will allow the sharing and collaborative analysis of data and observations that have been made by the NASA’S MAVEN project and EMM’s Hope Probe.
It will further make the path toward greater scientific collaboration and data exchange between both missions.
MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution) completed its Mars orbit insertion in the year 2014. Its mission is to examine the upper atmosphere and ionosphere of Mars, understanding how the planet’s climate has changed over time.
The Hope Probe, which entered the orbit of Mars n 9 February, 2021, is analysing the relationship between the lower regions and upper layer of the Martian atmosphere, giving the international science community full permit to a holistic view of the planet’s atmosphere at various times of the day, through different seasons.
The Project Director of the Emirates Mars Mission, Omran Sharaf, stated, “EMM science complements MAVEN, and the Hope probe was also designed specifically to answer scientific goals aligned directly with the goals of MEPAG. Its observations were always made to provide new understandings that were not possible from past Mars missions.”
“Now, by merging the two datasets from the EMM and MAVEN missions and studying the results together, we can build a powerful answer to many fundamental questions we have about Mars and the evolution and dynamics of its atmosphere,” he further added.
EMM was formed to answer multiple objectives defined by the worldwide grouping of Mars scientists and researchers, MEPAG – the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group.