The United Arab Emirates' Hope spacecraft entered Mars orbit last week and has already sent back a simply stunning image of the red planet.
Mars is having a big moment this month. Two spacecraft have already entered orbit around the red planet: Tianwen-1 arrived there on February 10. And a day earlier, the United Arab Emirates made history by putting the Al Amal (Hope) spacecraft into orbit around Mars, becoming only the fifth country to do so.
The first Arab interplanetary mission has snapped some images of the planet Mars during its journey – which is not over yet. From a distance of around 15,500 miles (25,000 kilometers), the probe’s camera – officially known as the Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI) – captured a truly impressive photo of Mars, which you can see below.
Some of Mars' most famous features are visible in the image. One of them is Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system , which is about two and a half times the height of Mount Everest. Also known as the Tharsis Montes, are three large shield volcanoes in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars.
The image was shared in a tweet by Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, leader of the UAE.
“The transmission of the Hope Probe’s first image of Mars is a defining moment in our history and signals that the United Arab Emirates is participating in space,” the Twitter made on Sunday said.
The Al Amal mission hopes to provide a more complete picture of the Martian atmosphere. The instrument suite includes the EXI camera and an ultraviolet and infrared spectrometer. Detailed observations will allow researchers to determine how particles escape Mars' gravity and reveal the mechanisms of global circulation in the "lower atmosphere."
Information source: cnet.com
