Mohammed bin Rashid shares images of Hope Probe as it travelled 100million km into its journey

Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, said that the UAE’s Hope Probe has now travelled 100 million kilometres, on its 493 million kilometre-long journey towards its objective, Planet Mars.

His Highness posted pictures of planets captured and transmitted by the country's Hope probe as it made its way through space towards Mars.

“The Hope probe is officially 100 million km into its journey to the Red Planet. Mars, as demonstrated in the image captured by the probe’s Star Tracker, is ahead of us, leaving Saturn and Jupiter behind. The Hope probe is expected to arrive to Mars on February 2021,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.

“In less than 170 days, we will celebrate the access of the Hope probe in the orbit of the Red Planet. The UAE will make an amazing chapter in the history of global space expeditions to Mars,” His Highness said. “The UAE’s Mars expedition will make leapfrog in our space industry, and will open new scientific horizons for a new space expeditions.”

“The next phase of our development journey requires investment in science that targets our human capital. We want brighter Emiratis minds that lead us towards the future through scientific and knowledge excellence,” His Highness added.

The images show the probe passing Jupiter and Saturn and Mars in sight - having travelled more than 100 million kilometres so far on its 493 million kilometre-long journey.

On Aug. 17, the Hope Probe had successfully completed its first trajectory correction manoeuvre - a major milestone in its journey to Mars.

This was marked the first firing of the probe’s six Delta-V thrusters, for course correction that will see the probe directly targeting Mars’ capture orbit.

Once it reaches the Red Planet, the probe will collect scientific data about the planet's unique weather system to provide a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere.

The probe is scheduled to reach the Red Planet in February. It will have covered about 500 million kilometres in the 200-day journey.