Hope Probe 158 days away from orbit of Mars, covers 126 million km

Yamama Bedwan, Staff Reporter

The Hope Probe has commenced the third phase of its operations of directing it towards the Mars on Thursday, following the completion of all tests after 45 days from its launch.

The UAE Space Agency on Thursday said, “The Hope Probe has now commenced the 'normal operations' phase of its cruise, following the successful completion of the commissioning phase in which we have ensured that all onboard systems are operating nominally.”

It continued, “As the distance between the Hope probe and Earth increases, we are now reducing communications to essential operations during the cruise phase as we head towards our third Trajectory Control manouevre in November.”

The probe had travelled a distance of 126.6 million km at its current speed of 112,200 km/ h, and it will reduce its speed automatically down to 18,000 km /h, according to an intelligent control system, in February 2021, coinciding with the golden jubilee of the UAE foundation, in preparation for its entry into Mars' orbit after 158 days.

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The first trajectory operations took place successfully on August 17, which is among a series of trajectory control maneuvers. It represents a major station and an important stage in the probe's journey, where the team succeeded in operating the six propulsion devices for the first time, to be used in placing the probe in its direct path toward the Mars.

After the successful launch from the launch pad on the Tanegashima Island, Japan, on July 20, the team intended to implement seven trajectory operations during its 493 million-kilometer journey, but the launch efficiency and initial operations of the probe contributed to placing the probe in a path closer to the final path.