Hope probe begins its Mars mission of discovery early by studying space dust
The UAE’s Hope probe will study space dust during its journey to Mars.
It is believed that interplanetary dust played an important role in the formation of our solar system 4.6 billion years ago.
Hope will use its star tracker, a navigational camera, to study the density and distribution of dust in the solar system.
“The current performance of Hope has provided the science team an opportunity to make measurements, capturing valuable science data that can only be captured en route to a planet,” said Omran Sharaf, project director of the Emirates Mars Mission.
“This means that we will actually have commenced science data gathering even before we enter into our capture orbit in February and then transition to our science orbit.
“We will be making novel science data available to the international community even earlier than we had originally planned.”
The findings will be com
bined with data being collected by a spacecraft that is on its way to Mercury.
The European Space Agency’s BepiColombo spacecraft is also tracking dust and the distribution of hydrogen within the Sun’s heliosphere.
Interplanetary dust is mostly released by comets as they get closer to the Sun, but some include particles that predate our solar system.
In 2018, researchers in Hawaii found leftover dust from the birth of the solar system preserved in comets.
Studying these tiny particles could help them learn more about how our planets and Sun were formed.
“Knowing the density helps us understand where the dust is,” said Dr Ilias Fernini, an associate professor of astrophysics at University of Sharjah.
“Is it uniform and distributed equally between planets? Or is it just concentrated in some part of the solar system?”
Hope will enter Martian orbit on February 9.
Shortly before, its ultraviolet spectrometer will be turned on the Red Planet’s exospheric hydrogen – gas that exists on the very edge of the planet’s atmosphere.
“The accuracy of our trajectory during the cruise, confirmed by TCM3 [ the third course correction manoeuvre], has enabled us to now plan new scientific observations in our final approach to Mars,” Mr Sharaf said.
“We will be using the EMUS spectrograph to make early observations of Mars’s outer hydrogen halo as well as adding new data to interplanetary hydrogen modelling.”
Hope will spend two years in orbit around Mars, studying its thin atmosphere and weather.