Arab world, Muslim nations feel proud, satisfied: envoy

ISLAMABAD: The United Arab Emirates (UAE) Ambassador to Pakistan, Hamad Obaid Al Zaabi, has maintained that the people of UAE, Arab World and Muslim nations feel proud and satisfied over the UAE’s success in accessing the orbit of the Red Planet. In a statement on Wednesday, the ambassador said with the arrival of the “Hope Probe” launched by the UAE to the Mars, the first-ever Arab historic mission to achieve this goal after a space journey that lasted seven months during which it travelled 494 million kilometers, allowed it to send information about the orbit atmosphere and climate of Mars.

Ambassador Al Zaabi said that this achievement makes the UAE the fifth space agency to reach the Red Planet through the first Arab probe scaling among the planets. The Mars programme is part of rich national efforts to develop its scientific and technological capabilities. The UAE ambassador reminded that it is the most distant point in the universe that Arabs have reached throughout their history, and “our goal is to give hope to all Arabs and Muslims that we are able to compete with the rest of the nations and people.”

The UAE envoy pointed out that the self-operated probe launched into space at a speed of 121,000 km/h had to automatically reduce its speed to 18,000 km/h for 27 minutes known as the 27 blind minutes using six reverse propulsion motors (delta V) engines equipped in probe.

The ambassador indicated that this achievement culminated the seven years spent by the project team working diligently and perseverance in designing, developing, building and programming the probe to prepare for this challenge and overcome these 27 blind minutes, as it did with the challenges it faced throughout its Mars journey. The ambassador said the Hope Probe will remain in its orbit around Mars for a period of two years, or a Martian year, during which it will study everything related to the weather and atmosphere of the Red Planet, with the help of three advanced scientific mechanisms, which are the infrared spectroscope and the ultraviolet spectrometer Ultraviolet, high-definition digital exploration camera.

Ambassador Al-Zaabi recalled that the UAE is celebrating this year 50th anniversary of its union and establishment, coinciding 50 years of the Pakistan-UAE diplomatic relations, which are consolidating and strengthening day by day. Ambassador Hamad Obaid Al Zaabi said that Pakistan and the UAE have rich human and technological capabilities that qualify for future cooperation in the field of science.