Humanity seems closer than ever to arrive on Mars, although the distance is much bigger than the one between Earth and the Moon. The average distance to our natural satellite is 384,400 km, while we will have to travel at least 54.6 million kilometers to reach the Red Planet.
While so many astronomers are continuing to search for new ways of exploring the Martian surface, the obiter named Hope and built by UAE is the latest gadget that was lifted towards Mars.
Lift-off from an island off the coast of Japan
The great event occurred Sunday at Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 5:58 p.m. ET. The orbiter was mounted atop of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries H2A rocket. The Arab world has all the reasons to be proud of the launch, as it’s the first interplanetary mission ever initiated in their area. The launch was even delayed by four days due to bad weather, such as thunderstorms.
Only two hours were needed after launch so that the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre announced via Twitter that the first signal was received from Hope. “The probe is now heading towards Mars,” they said.
المحطة الأرضية في مركز محمد بن راشد للفضاء تتلقى الإشارة الأولى من مسبار الأمل.
المسبار يتجه الآن نحو المريخ.#مسبار_الأمل #العرب_إلى_المريخ #أول_عد_تنازلي_عربي pic.twitter.com/GzdBnyDQ6c— MBR Space Centre (@MBRSpaceCentre) July 19, 2020
Some voices from the space agency of the United Arab Emirates had even said that the Hope mission is for the survival of the whole Middle East. And there’s no wonder why, as the colonization of another planet seems mandatory in the context of a planet Earth that sooner or later will run out of resources. Of course, colonization of Mars is a process that most likely will occur in the distant future. This implies terraforming the Red Planet, which means that we’ll have to make the planet habitable for humans.
Mars is pretty much the only cosmic object from our solar system that seems capable of hosting any life forms.
