UAE SHARES DATA FROM MARS PROBE WITH WORLD
▶ Release of material lets scientists and amateurs benefit from mission
Scientists and amateur astronomers are benefiting from the treasure trove of data that the UAE’s Hope probe has collected from Mars.
Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre made 110 gigabytes of raw data freely available last week.
New information will be published every three months.
Researchers hope it will reveal secrets such as how the escape of oxygen and other gases is stripping away Mars’s atmosphere.
The latest findings showed that dramatic variations in the concentrations of atomic oxygen and carbon monoxide were present.
“The team is working to understand what has driven these structures to appear to be this way,” Hessa Al Matroushi, the science lead of the Emirates Mars Mission, told The National.
“The Mars mission is getting a unique perspective, so that’s an opportunity for us to try to compare and update our understanding of what’s happening in the Martian atmosphere.”
Unique observations of how gases interact and affect solar radiation have been possible because of the spacecraft’s elliptical orbit.
Previous missions were much closer to the planetary surface, limiting observations to short periods and limited areas of the planet.
Dr Dimitra Atri, a research scientist at New York University Abu Dhabi, is using Hope’s data to complete a research paper he hopes to publish.
He has been studying data from Nasa’s Maven and Europe’s Mars Express missions to research hydrogen and oxygen in the planet’s atmosphere, and investigate how the planet’s liquid water disappeared.
Data from the Hope orbiter has helped fill in gaps including the role of solar radiation and auroras.
“Each mission has its own area where it’s good, but has limitations. You only get a partial picture of a planet from these missions, but Hope is much further away and it is going to add to what we know so far,” he said.
“We’ll be combining the data from the Maven and Mars Express missions, but Hope will give us a more in-depth understanding.”
The UAE’s spacecraft has taken the most detailed pictures of the planet’s auroras to help scientists understand them.
Apart from building research, the data from the spacecraft is also allowing space enthusiasts to create stunning images of the planet.
Stuart Atkinson, an amateur astronomer in the UK, has processed some of the raw data from Hope’s exploration imager instrument – a high-resolution camera – to create pictures of the planet.
“I love the black and white image I made showing a crescent Mars and the huge Olympus Mons volcano,” he said.
“I made that by stacking multiple images taken through different filters and then sharpened and enhanced it, but left it black and white because I love the starkness of it.
“I’m also very pleased with the colour image I made showing the Mariner Valley – Valles Marineris – and its neighbouring volcanoes. That’s how I imagine Mars would look if I was flying towards it in a spaceship, at the end of my sixmonth journey from Earth.”
Mr Atkinson said free data helped people feel as if they are part of the mission.
He has worked with images taken by every Mars rover and orbiter, as well as spacecraft that went to Saturn, Jupiter, the Rosetta comet and Pluto.
“I really love how we now have huge galleries of images freely available online, often posted just hours after they were taken,” he said.
“Some missions don’t do that, though, and only release an image now and then, which is a shame and counter-productive because it makes the mission invisible to the public.
“I believe every mission that goes to a planet or body should release at least a few images every week, to allow people to feel part of the mission.”