Hope Probe (Al-Amal)

Emirates Mars Mission (EMM)

Agency

MBRSC / UAE Space Agency

Country

🇦🇪 UAE

Launched

2020-07-19

Status

Ongoing

Mass

1,350 kg

Instruments

3 science instruments

EXI — Emirates eXploration Imager, EMIRS — Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer, EMUS — Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer

Orbit

Science orbit: 22,000 × 43,000 km elliptical, ~55-hour period

Key Findings

1.First spacecraft to capture a complete picture of Mars's atmospheric weather system within a single orbit due to its wide-area high-altitude vantage point
2.Discovered discrete proton auroras above ancient volcanic highland terrains, a class of aurora not previously mapped on Mars
3.Detected an unexpected structured hydrogen corona extending farther from Mars than predicted, suggesting higher-than-modelled water dissociation rates
4.Measured oxygen and carbon monoxide atmospheric escape rates that exceed prior model predictions, revising estimates of atmospheric loss

Mission Outcome

Hope Probe entered Mars orbit on February 9, 2021, making the UAE the fifth entity to achieve Mars orbit and the first Arab nation to reach another planet. Operating in its unique high-altitude science orbit, it provides a full-disk view of Mars's weather unavailable from any other spacecraft. The mission continues to return atmospheric science data as of 2026.

Sources

[1] Emirates Mars Mission / MBRSC — retrieved 2026-06-01
“The Hope Probe is the Arab world's first interplanetary mission and the first Mars mission to study the atmosphere as a whole, complete interconnected system.”
[2] NASA NSSDCA — retrieved 2026-06-01

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