arab space mission
Japan launches first Arab space mission to Mars
A rocket from Japan carried the first Arab space mission to Mars into space Monday, with the probe dubbed “Hope” successfully separating about an hour after liftoff.
Carrying a Mars orbiter developed by the United Arab Emirates, the H-IIA rocket launched by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. lifted off at 6:58 a.m. from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Almost exactly one hour later, a live feed of the launch showed applause in the control room as the probe successfully detached.
The project is the fourth in which Mitsubishi Heavy has conducted launches for overseas customers. It worked with South Korea in 2012, Canada in 2015 and UAE in 2018.
Monday’s liftoff marked the 36th consecutive successful H-IIA rocket launch. In Dubai the launch was met with rapturous excitement.
Seeing the probe blasting off was “an indescribable feeling,” said Sarah Al-Amiri, the UAE Mars mission’s deputy project manager.