The Emirates Mars Mission (Arabic: مشروع الإمارات لاستكشاف المريخ‎) is a United Arab Emirates Space Agency uncrewed space exploration mission to Mars. The Hope (Arabic: مسبار الأمل‎, Al Amal) orbiter was launched on 19 July 2020 at 21:58:14 UTC,^[3] and will reach Mars on 9 February 2021.

The mission design, development, and operations are led by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC).^[5] The spacecraft was developed by MBRSC and the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado Boulder, with support from Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of California, Berkeley. It was assembled at the University of Colorado.^[6][7]

The space probe will study daily and seasonal weather cycles, weather events in the lower atmosphere such as dust storms, and how the weather varies in different regions of the planet. It will also attempt to find out why it is losing hydrogen and oxygen into space and other possible reasons behind its drastic climate changes. The mission is being carried out by a team of Emirati engineers in collaboration with foreign research institutions and is a contribution towards a knowledge-based economy in the UAE.^[8] Hope is scheduled to reach Mars in February 2021.^[9]

Hope was the first of three space missions sent toward Mars during the July 2020 Mars launch window, with missions also launched by the national space agencies of China (Tianwen-1) and the United States (Mars 2020 and its Perseverance rover). All three are expected to arrive at Mars in February 2021. The Emirates Mars Mission will be the first of the three to arrive at Mars and is on track to make its orbit entry maneuver on 9 February 2021.^[10] 

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury. ... Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere, with surface features reminiscent of the impact craters of the Moon and the valleys, deserts and polar ice caps of Earth.

Star system: Solar System

Category: Planet

Named locations: Olympus Mons, Valles Marin...

Orbits: Sun