Q&A: a Mars scientist
With its first interplanetary spacecraft, Hope, due to arrive at Mars on 9 February, the United Arab Emirates embraces a new era of space travel
What is the UAE’s Hope probe looking for at Mars? The Emirates Mars Mission is looking into the different layers of the Red Planet’s atmosphere. We’re analysing the lower atmosphere to understand the climate and its different constituents, seeing how they vary on a daily and seasonal basis. We’re also looking into the upper atmosphere – specifically the thermosphere, where we are examining carbon monoxide and oxygen, as well as the upper layer, the exosphere, where we are looking at hydrogen and oxygen. We are interested in finding out how these gases escape from the atmosphere and would like to understand if there is a connection between the layers and how the processes interact. For example, if there are changes in the lower atmosphere we’d like to know how this has an impact the upper atmosphere. Also, if there are events like dust storms we’d like to know how these processes work.
What science questions will the mission help answer?
Right now Mars is a barren land, but four billion years ago it may have looked like Earth; the Red Planet had a thick atmosphere and flowing water. An understanding of the changes on Mars over this time span can teach us valuable information about Earth itself, because we’re all in the same Solar System.
A lot of probes have looked at Mars’s atmosphere. What makes this one different?
One of the key things that the UAE wanted to do is to bring an innovative approach to the science community. Previous missions looked at the Martian atmosphere at specific times – for example at 2am and 2pm – meaning we don’t have a comprehensive understanding of what happens in the atmosphere at every hour; there are missing links and information in there. Also, we might understand the atmosphere in a specific place on Mars, but we don’t understand how it behaves globally. Hope will give us a comprehensive picture of the Martian atmosphere – daily, seasonally and over the whole year.
What instruments are on board?
There are three scientific instruments. First is the Emirates Exploration Imager (EXI), a 12-megapixel camera. EXI will give us colourful images of Mars, but it also has three ultraviolet bands that will give us information about water ice and ozone. Then we have the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS), which will give us information about atmospheric temperature, surface temperature, dust distribution, water ice and water vapour in the Martian lower atmosphere. The third instrument is the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), which will look at the upper atmosphere and provide us with information about carbon monoxide, oxygen and even hydrogen.
This is the UAE’s first big planetary mission. Why go to the Red Planet?
We would like to develop the science and technology sector in the UAE – space missions accelerate the development of these two sectors rapidly. We’d also like to develop Emirati scientific capabilities and increase our contribution to the global science community in space and the field of planetary science.
What are the UAE’s long-term goals at Mars?
In 2017, the UAE set out its vision in ‘Mars 2117’, a 100-year programme that looks into the settlement of the Red Planet. It shows an immense dedication into developing capabilities – when it comes to planetary exploration and looking at Mars long-term. It’s a very realistic plan, which sets out a lot of steps on the way; the Hope mission is just the first of these. There are many projects in motion where we are developing our technology to help us realise our scientific visions, and there will also be a lot of outreach work to inspire students to go into science and technology. The name of the space probe, Hope, is an inspiration to everyone – inspiring youth and showing that a small country, like the United Arab Emirates, is attempting a huge space mission and is doing so successfully.