Arab’s Hope In Mars: Any Lessons For Africa?

February, 2021 is widely seen as a Mars’ month and perhaps, rightly so, because of the successful entry into Martian orbit of three spacecraft that month.

The first to arrive on 9 February, 2021 and make orbital insertion was Hope, or Al Amal in Arabic, owned by the United Arab Emirates, UAE, making her the first Arab country to send a spacecraft to Mars.

This also makes UAE the third country/entity to do so on first attempt and fifth entity to ever reach the red planet after USA’s NASA, Russia, European Space Agency (ESA) and India.

The first entity to reach Mars on first attempt is ESA with the Mars Express/Beagle 2 lander which was launched on 2 June, 2003 and arrived 25 December, same year.

The second is India’s Mass Orbiter Mission, launched on 6 November, 2013 and entered Martian orbit on 24 September, 2014.

Russia, USA, Japan and China did not succeed at first attempt.

UAE’s Deputy Supreme Commander and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed, said the “Emirati people’s happiness is indescribable.”

Image result for uae mars hope probe

Launched with the H-IIA rocket from the Tanageshima Space Centre, Japan, on 19 July, 2020, Hope travelled 493.5 million kilometres (306 million miles) before getting to Mars.

It approached Mars at 75,185 miles per hour and the Ground Station had to fire its boosters for 30 minutes to slow it down to 11,184 miles per hour so that it can gently enter and remain in Martian orbit.

If not, the gravity of Mars would have slingshot it into deep space. At least 60% of failed expeditions were at this stage.

The other two unmanned Mars spacecraft, launched about the same time as Hope, also made successful orbital insertion. They are: China’s Tianwen-1 probe with a Mars lander which arrived in Mars on 10 February, 2021 and is China’s first successful attempt to reach Mars.

The next, NASA’s Perseverance Orbiter/Rover, arrived on 18 February, 2021.

The first entity to successfully reach Mars and it was after one failed attempt is NASA with its Mariner 4 launched on 28 November, 1964. It made a Mars flyby on 4 July,1965 and sent 21 photographs to show for it.

After that, Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 similarly made Martian flyby while Mariner 8 suffered a launch failure.

It was however, the Mariner 9 launched on 30 May, 1971 that was the first spacecraft to enter Martian orbit on November 13, 1971. It returned a total of 7,329 images in its mission which ended in October, 1972.

The second, after nine failed attempts, is Russia with the Mars 2 Orbiter launched on 19 May,1971 and entered Martian orbit on November 2, same year.

The first space probe to land on the soil of Mars (successfully and do work) is NASA’s Viking 1 Lander released by the Orbiter on 20 June, 1976 after entering Martian orbit a day earlier. The Viking 1 was launched on 20 August, 1975.

By the end of February, 2021 at least 50% of all 49 missions ever made to Mars failed.

The total cost of the Hope project was 200 million US dollars. If Hope had failed and with all that money lost, it would have been a big blow to not just UAE, but to all so-called developing countries in the world.

Conversely, the success of Hope is widely seen as a big boost for the so-called smaller countries aspiring into space science and technology, thereby looking beyond the Earth, for economic development.

It took 450 scientists and engineers to design and build Hope: 200 of them are from the UAE with an average age of 27 years and 34% of them are women.

The implications for long-term youth and women empowerment are enormous for UAE and will be for any African country seeking to build a knowledge-based economy and narrow a gender gap that, many feel, is widening.

Hope will stay in its elliptical, or oval-shaped, orbit of 621 miles by 30,685 miles for two to three years. One Martian year is 687 Earth days. It will take Hope 40 hours to make a revolution. It takes 12 minutes for communication from Earth to reach Mars.

With three instruments on board, Hope will collect, what is considered, the most elaborate data so far from the atmosphere in Mars.

Image result for uae mars hope probe

The Head, UAE’s Space Agency and mother of two, Sarah Al Miri, says the data collected will be shared freely with 200 institutions which have already expressed interest. Possibilities, therefore exist, for African countries to benefit from collaborative research work in advanced space science from any of them that makes a breakthrough.

UAE, a country with a population of a little under 10 million people, has an annual budget of 5.2 billion US dollars for her space agency. The money is from both government and private sources.

On the other hand, Nigeria’s budget for space programmes was 59.36 million US dollars in 2020 and 86.5 million US dollars for 2021.

The total budget for Africa’s space programmes in 2020 was 490 million US dollars. It was 250 million US dollars a year earlier.

Asia spent 15.44 billion US dollars in her space programmes in 2020; Europe, 17.1 billion dollars; North America, 38.54 billion dollars.

NASA’s budget for 2020 was 22.66 billion US dollars. For 2021, it is 23.3 billion US dollars and Europe: 19.4 billion but revised down to 15.2 billion US dollars following Covid-19 pandemic and its effect on economic activities and supporting industries.

This underscores the need for proper funding for science and technology, especially space programmes, for all so-called developing countries, especially African countries, because of the many benefits of space science.

This can, but must not, be from government alone; private organisations and individuals can also join in the funding as in the space programme of UAE.

Hope weighs 1,350 kilograms (2,980 pounds) made up of 550 kg Dry Mass (without fuel) and 800 kg of Hydrazine fuel.

It was built by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, LASP, in University of Colorado Boulder, with inputs from UAE’s Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, MBRSC, Arizona State University and University of California, Berkeley.

Sixty-six of the components of Hope were made in UAE.

Cutting-edge technology is transferred best, arguably, by doing the part you can and participating in doing those that you cannot; than hoping to be taught in the classroom or given as some largesse.

Three of the so-called developing countries – India, UAE and China – have made it successfully to Mars: India and UAE, even on first attempt.

An emerging fact is that in today’s space science and technology, one must not learn to crawl, stand, and walk, before running; one can learn to crawl, stand, walk and run at the same time.

There may be a need for change of mindset: No technology is beyond the so-called developing nations.

UAE has 13 operational satellites before her expedition to Mars. The Hope (Mars) probe further puts her in contention for any benefits that may accrue from exploiting that red planet in the (near) future.

And there may be plenty of them.

RELATED POST: UAE PICKS FIRST FEMALE ASTRONAUT

The United Arab Emirates has picked 27-year-old Nora Al Matrooshi, who is now poised to become the country’s and Arab world’s first female astronaut.

She was selected with Mohammed Al Mulla from 4,305 applicants; 1,400 of whom are female.

UAE announces first female Arab astronaut Noura Al-Matrooshi - P.M. News

They will proceed to NASA’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, towards the end of this year for training.

UAE already has two trained astronauts: Hazza Al Mansouri and Sultan Al Neyadi.

UAE in space: What did Hazzaa AlMansoori carry with him to space? | Science – Gulf News

Hazza Al Mansouri made history as the first Emirati to travel to space in September, 2019

when he spent eight days in the International Space Station, ISS.

The first Muslim in space is Saudi’s Prince Sultan bin Salman with the shuttle Discovery in 1985.

Nora Al Matrooshi’s selection to be an astronaut is highly welcome by gender activists because of what is widely perceived as a huge gender imbalance in space exploration.

By 2020, out of the 550 astronauts who have travelled to space, only 65 are woman.

pictures courtesy: uae space

RELATED POST: UAE PLANS LUNAR ROVER FOR 2024

The United Arab Emirates has announced plans for a lunar rover project which will land on the Moon by 2024.

The four-wheel rover named Rashid, 54 cm (21 inches) in length and width and 76 cm (30 inches) high; weighing a mere 10 kg (22 lbs) will be the lightest ever to land on the Moon.

China’s Yutu rovers weighing 140 kg (310 lbs) which landed on the Moon in 2013 and 2019 were the lightest.

India’s Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the Moon in 2019.

Only US, Russia and China have successfully landed a spacecraft on the Moon.

The UAE will be the 4th, and the first in the Arab world, if Rashid succeeds.

Rashid will carry six scientific instruments to study thermal properties of the lunar surface and the soil in a far side of the Moon, yet to be studied in previous expeditions.

Temperatures can vary from -200 ^oC (-328 ^oF) at night to 80 ^oC (176 ^oF) by day in the Moon.

Experts doubt how long Rashid can last in such extreme conditions considering its small size.

UAE scientists however, say they expect Rashid to work for one lunar day but will be excited if it lasts longer.

One lunar day is equivalent to 14 Earth days.