The United Arab Emirates celebrates its first mission to Mars.
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| Emirates Space Agency Mission |
The spacecraft, which left Earth seven months earlier, had to perform a braking maneuver to ensure it was caught by the gravity of Mars.
UAE scientists can now look forward to studying the planet's atmosphere.
Their satellite carries three instruments that will monitor, among other targets, how neutral atoms of hydrogen and oxygen - remnants of abundant water from Mars - spill into space.
In the process, Hope will bring back stunning HD full-disk images of the planet.
Tuesday marks the most important stage of the mission.
Hope was approaching Mars at speeds in excess of 120,000 km / h (relative to the Sun) and needed to perform a meticulous burn of 27 minutes on the braking engines to clean up some of that speed or risk leaping into deeper space.
The maneuver, performed by six thrusts on the probe, began at around 19:30 GMT (15:30 GMT), with confirmation received on the ground after about 11 minutes - the delay is the time it takes for radio signals to traverse 190- million kilometers. Between Mars and Earth.
The official announcement of the completion of the burning when it was quiet and applause was relatively restrained. Perhaps the conversation was comfort after waiting for nerve tears for positive telemetry.
“The introduction of the Mars orbit was the most important and dangerous part of our journey to Mars, which exposed the Hope probe to unprecedented pressure and pressure before,” said Imran Sharaf, Project Manager of Mission of Hope at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center.
"With this tremendous achievement achieved, we are now preparing to move to our scientific orbit and start collecting scientific data."
The past few days have seen tremendous enthusiasm for Hope and her mission, as public monuments, buildings and heritage sites throughout the Federation have been lit red.
Burj Khalifa in Dubai, the tallest man-made building on Earth, began counting down to the most important moment on Tuesday.
Hope is the victory of a small Gulf state that dared to think seven years ago that it could inspire the next generation by launching the first Arab interplanetary space mission.
Her Excellency Sarah Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Technology and Chair of the Board of Directors, said, "We wanted to reach Mars; (I am) really grateful, as if the weight of seven years had been lifted off my shoulder." Emirates Space Agency.
She told BBC News: "When I get to Mars. I'm really looking forward to scientific discoveries. I really hope this mission affects an entire generation in pursuit of bigger things."
Hope is now operating in an elementary ellipse around Mars approaching 1,000 km from the planet and ejecting to nearly 50,000 km. Over the next few weeks, this orbit will be reduced to 55 hours, 22,000 km by 43,000 km, and tilted to the equator by about 25 degrees.
"It depends on the shape of this initial orbit, but we will need three maneuvers to reach our scientific orbit," said propulsion engineer Aisha Sharafi.
This path differs significantly from that of previous satellites that have tended to operate in greater proximity to Mars to facilitate high-resolution images of the surface and communications with the landed robots.
But from this high position, Hope is planning to do some new research. It will track how energy moves through the atmosphere from bottom to top.
The main influence in this regard is dust, which can sometimes erupt in storms that envelop the entire planet.
Professor David Breen, from the University of Colorado at Boulder, explained: "Dust plays a very important role in the Martian atmosphere. There are a few places on Earth where the atmosphere can be dusty, but they are local and maybe for short periods." A planetary expert who works with the Emirates team.
"Dust absorbs a lot of energy; it can get very warm and radiate energy. So when we talk about energy transport, dust is a much bigger part of the big picture on Mars."
Hope is leading a wave of missions to Mars in February.
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