The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) is on track to launch the Hope spacecraft in July 2020 on its seven-month journey to the Red Planet, the mission’s project manager said on Wednesday at the Project Space Forum in Dubai.
Omran Sharaf said: “The mission has been on track so far. We’ve completed the Preliminary Design Review and hopefully we’ll hold the CDR [Critical Design Review] soon.”
Project Space is held under the patronage of Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince of Dubai. He is the chairman of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), organiser of Project Space.
Hope should enter into the Martian orbit by early 2021, the year of the UAE’s 50th independence anniversary, to study the planet’s atmosphere in unprecedented detail. It will also mark the first time for an Arab or Muslim country to send a spacecraft to Mars.