HOPE SPACE PROBE – SCI & TECH
News: Emirati
'Hope' probe approaches Mars
What's in the news?
● Unmanned
craft, called Amal, Arabic for Hope, had reached the end of its nearly
seven-month, 300-million-mile journey and had begun circling the red planet.
● It
is the first interplanetary mission for the Arab World.
Launched by: UAE Space Agency
The Hope Orbiter:
● The
Hope probe has a mission life of one Martian year, which is almost two Earth
years.
Scientific instruments:
● Emirates
exploration Imager (EXI) - a
high-resolution camera.
● Emirates
Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS)
- a far-UV imaging spectrograph.
● Emirates
Mars InfraRed Spectrometer (EMIRS) -
it will examine temperature profiles, ice, water vapor and dust in the
atmosphere of Mars.
Aim:
● Climate dynamics and
global weather map of Mars by studying the lower
atmosphere of Mars.
● Weather
of Mars affects the escape of hydrogen and oxygen, by correlating conditions in
the lower and upper atmosphere.
● The
presence and variability of hydrogen and oxygen in the upper atmosphere, and
why Mars is losing these gases to space.
Significance of the Mission:
● It
is a known fact that the Red Planet was once habitable, from signatures of
flowing water and organic material that point to a past that could have
supported living things.
● An
understanding of Mar's past could help scientists understand the future of
Earth.
Benefits of Mars Mission:
1. Space Diplomacy - The
quest to win space is picking up and India also needs to set up to create its
own hegemony.
2. Mineral Resources
- It may be a vital source of minerals in future.
3. Deep Space Communication Network
- Mars satellites may act as a node for establishing a communication link for
far space exploration.
4. Origin of Life and Planetary System
- It may help in understanding how the solar system came into existence.
5. Catalyst for innovation
- Many space technologies are now in common parlance and popularized by ISRO.
6.
Chances of human habitation in
future.
India’s Mars Orbiter Mission:
● Also
known as Mangalyaan, it was launched
from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Andhra Pradesh by Indian Space Research
Organization (ISRO) in November 2013.
● It
was launched on board a PSLV C25 rocket
with the aim of studying Martian surface and mineral composition as well as
scan its atmosphere for methane (an indicator of life on Mars).