The UAE on Friday mark three years since its Hope probe reached Mars, the moment when the Emirates become the first Arab nation to place a craft in the Red Planet's orbit and only the fifth worldwide.
Hope offered unprecedented global coverage of the planet's atmosphere, revealing the intricacies of daily and seasonal weather cycles.
This was possible thanks to the unique orbit in which the craft was placed, allowing it to "see" the planet from a much higher vantage point than previous Mars missions.
One of the key findings was the observation of elusive auroras, known as the discrete aurora.
Hope, a craft the size of a small car, entered orbit on February 9, 2021, and has since been capturing data on the planet's atmosphere and on one of its moons, Deimos.
The observations have helped scientists all over the world to enhance their understanding of Mars, including how the planet, which is believed to have been habitable a long time ago, lost its atmosphere and can no longer support life.
In February 2023, the UAE Space Agency decided to move the Hope probe to a new orbit around Mars to study one of the planet’s tiny moons.
The agency released a striking image of the moon in April, offering invaluable data on its orbit, surface features and composition.
It was announced in February 2023 that the country's Mars mission would be extended by one more year. But the agency could decide to keep the mission going, depending on operational budgets and the health of the spacecraft.
Even if the mission ends, the Hope probe has played a significant role in helping to shape the country's space programme.
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