Meet the man behind Hope Probe
Mars mission chief Omran Sharaf shares his professional and personal insights
His was the voice that announced to the world that Hope Probe, the first Arab interplanetary mission, successfully entered Mars orbit on February 9. He has worked on the mission since its inception in 2014 and his calm demeanour has been a constant presence inside the mission control centre.
His name is Omran Sharaf, project director of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) at the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC). He and his team are responsible for developing, launching and operating Hope Probe. He leads a team of young Emirati engineers, scientists, data analysts and programmers — all under 35 years old — and they have made history in putting a young nation like the UAE as the first Arab country and only the fifth in the world to reach the Red Planet.
In an exclusive interview, Sharaf shared the mood of the team during the crucial Mars orbit insertion (MOI); the moment they received the first photo of Mars; what’s next for Hope Probe; how the mission has created a powerful impact on the youth; future space missions; as well as his personal journey and transformation. .
Pride, happiness and positivity
Recalling the historic moment on February 9, Sharaf said it was a day “full of pride, happiness and positivity. Yes, it was a very busy, intense and stressful day; but personally, I was confident about the teamwork and spacecraft design.”
Worried, scared, but confident — it was definitely a mixed feeling for Sharaf and his team who have reached that point — the farthest that any Arab would go in the universe. The MOI was very critical. They only had one shot and with only 50 per cent success rate — it could go either way: failure or accomplishment.
The MOI commenced at 7.30 pm (UAE time ). At 8.08 pm, the ground control station at Al Khawaneej received the first transmission from Hope Probe and Sharaf confirmed to the UAE and the world the success of the mission. Sharaf told Gulf News: “After we arrived, the stress went away. The feeling was very difficult to describe. For the first few minutes, I was still in shock. The past seven years (from Hope Probe announcement in 2014), went really fast in front of me. It took me a while to realise our feat and it was a good feeling.”
Stamp of success
On February 14, Hope Probe sent a composite image capturing Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, emerging into the early morning sunlight on Mars.
Sharaf said: “Receiving the first photo taken by Hope Probe was like a stamp of completing our successful entry to Mars. Before that, we only received data, numbers and telemetries to verify we are around Mars. When we saw the photo, it was really a good feeling to see something in front of you rather than numbers and telemetries. We processed the image to show how as humans we could see Mars with our naked eyes at 25,000km above the Red Planet.”
Benefit for humanity
The international media and scientific community have hailed the UAE’s success story — how a country with
a nascent space agency went straight to Mars.
Sharaf noted: “The reason why the UAE was able to reach Mars in such a short time and with a relatively small budget was because of international collaboration. Around 450 people worked on this mission — 200 are Emiratis and 150 from our academic partners in US and 100 subcontractors from around the world. The mission proved the importance of collaboration. The direction of the UAE government since Day 1 was
‘Don’t start from scratch, begin where others ended. Work with others’.”
Impact of Mars mission
Sharaf noted: “Big part of the mission was to inspire the Emirati and Arab youth. His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, made it clear to the team that the science objective was very important to the global scientific community. Equally important, however,
was its impact to the youth. And we have seen a shift in the mindset of Emirati youth to embrace space exploration.”
He added: “We have worked with different sectors. In the academia, in particular, we have seen how students have shifted majors from international relations and finance to sciences because of the Emirates Mars Mission programme. We have seen a lot of qualitative impact among the Emirati and Arab youth who have reacted very positively.”