Hope Probe | 02 Aug 2019

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has announced that it will launch the 'Hope Probe', the Arab world's first spacecraft to Mars, in July 2020.

• The space programme, also known as the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), aims at collecting information on Mars, meteorological layers and study the causes of loss of hydrogen and oxygen gases -- the two main constituents of water -- from the upper layer of the Martian atmosphere.
• The mission, if successful, will become the first space exploration programme to take a picture of the Mars atmosphere.
• The 'Hope Probe' will be launched into orbit in mid-July 2020. The spacecraft is expected to reach Mars orbit in the first quarter of 2021, coinciding with the 50^th anniversary of the founding of the UAE.

Source: ToI