📋 Tender Overview
The Emirates Mars Mission EMM the first interplanetary mission undertaken by an Arab nation announced the successful completion of TCM3 its third and last major trajectory correction maneuver. Mars Hopes arrival and Mars Orbit Insertion MOI will mean the United Arab Emirates will become the fifth nation to reach the Red planet.With 189 million kilometers remaining the Hope Probe will reach its planned orbit around Mars on February 9 2021. It has already covered 60 percent of its journey equivalent to 290 million kilometers in 111 days since its launch on July 20.His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said The Hope Probe mission is the culmination of a 50-year journey which began in 1971. It also marks the beginning of another 50 years that will bring about major achievements based in the fields of science knowledge and innovation. Our nation does not have the word impossible in its dictionary and our leadership will not settle for anything less than the first place.His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Announces Hope Probes Arrival to Mars This announcement of the Probes arrival date to Mars comes following His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates UAE and ruler of the Emirate of Dubais tweet earlier The Hope probe has completed its last trajectory correction maneuver after travelling 290 million km into space in 111 days. We officially announce Hope probe will arrive to Mars on Feb. 9 2021 at 742pm UAE timing. We will celebrate the arrival of the first Arab mission to Mars.His Highness added Even before reaching its orbit the Emirates Mars Missions Hope Probe has succeeded in instilling a new culture in the hearts and minds of this nations men and women a culture that prioritizes science in shaping our future and reiterates our nations limitless ambitions after successfully entering space. We have become the first Arab country to succeed in exploring a planet and our nation joins an exclusive group of only seven countries that have explored Mars.His Highness affirmed that the UAEs arrival at Mars as the fifth country in the world is a historic achievement and places great responsibility on future generations to continue the march of progress.His Highness praised the EMM teams efforts and said I want to thank you for your efforts perseverance determination and dedication in prioritizing the success of this project despite the unusual circumstances the world is going through. You are achieving this mission with success that far exceeds expectations. We will celebrate together by Gods will - on February 9 when the Hope Probe reaches its orbit.15000 Working Hours Since the Hope Probes successful launch from Japans Tanegashima Center on July 20 the team has spent more than 15000 working hours closely monitoring its path to Mars.Having already completed the launch and early operations phases the Probe is currently in the third of six stages of its journey. The Early Orbit Phase began at the end of the Launch phase and lasted about 45 days.Throughout that time the Probe was monitored 24 hours a day by the operation and spacecraft teams to ensure that the spacecraft and all its components and systems were in optimal running condition.Cruise Phase The probe is currently in its Cruise phase. During this time the operations team at the ground station at MBRSC in Dubai periodically monitors the state of the probe as it is in contact with the spacecraft two to three times a week to check the subsystems health calibrate the interments and understand the performance of the probe. This phase also includes monitoring the probes flight path by conducting a series of trajectory correction maneuvers TCMs. The project team conducted two successful maneuvers previously in addition to a more recent one which is the third in the probes trip to Mars. Currently the team is back to the 24-hour contact schedule to prepare for the next phase.Entering the Martian orbit Following the Cruise phase the Probe will enter the Mission Orbit Insertion MOI phase. At this time the team will focus on safely entering a capture orbit around Mars. This process requires slowing down the Probe and nearly 50 percent of the fuel will be used to do so. The fuel burn will last approximately 30 minutes and reduce the speed of the spacecraft from over 121000 kmh to approximately 18000 kmh. Due to the radio signal lag from Mars - it takes radio signals 13 to 26 minutes to travel from Hope around Mars to the ground network on Earth - the team will not be able to intervene and communicate with the Probe resulting in the mission being 100 percent autonomous.Moving into Scientific Orbit The Transition to Science phase begins at the end of MOI and will last until the observatory is in an acceptable science orbit and the commissioning is complete about 75 days. The spacecrafts capture orbit will take it as close as 1000 km above Mars surface a 40-hour elliptical orbit and ranges from 1000 kilometers to 49380 kilometers. This is the period where the first image of Mars will be taken and transmitted back to the Mission Operation Center MOC. During this phase preparations for primary science operations take place and daily contacts are scheduled enabling a quick turn-around of command sequence uploads and telemetry receipt.The Probe will remain in scientific orbit for a full Martian year 687 Earth days and continue to take pictures of Mars and send them to the earth station.
