A new date has been set for the launch of the Hope probe to explore Mars at dawn on Friday, July 17, 2020

Setting a new date for the launch of the Hope probe to explore Mars at dawn Friday 17 July 2020

Tanegashima (Japan) - July 14, 2020: The Emirates Space Agency and the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, in cooperation and consultation with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which is responsible for the launch rocket carrying the "Probe of Hope", the first Arab mission to explore Mars, announced the new date for the launch space missionWhich will be on Friday, 17 July 2020, at the same time: 12:43 After midnight, UAE time, (which corresponds to exactly It's 08:43 pm on Thursday agree 16 July GMT), from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan.

The postponement of the launch of the Hope probe came due to the unstable weather conditions on Tanegashima Island in Japan, where the launch pad is located, with the formation of dense cumulus clouds and a frozen air layer, as a result of crossing a cold air front in conjunction with the original time scheduled for the launch of the probe.

The decision to postpone for two days was taken at a meeting held today, between the probe launch team in Japan and the control center team in the Emirates, and between officials of the launch site in Tanegashima, Japan, in order to assess weather conditions before launching the Hope probe, where the latest information on the weather was reviewed, and it was found That conditions are not favorable to proceed with the launch process on schedule, which was scheduled at 00:51:27 after midnight on Wednesday corresponding to 15 July 2020, UAE time.

Weather

Weather conditions play an important and pivotal role in deciding when to launch satellites, given their great impact, especially in the upper atmosphere, on the chances of the safe ascent of the rocket, which carries the Mars probe into space. Weather conditions and weather conditions are checked periodically and continuously prior to launch. Accordingly, there will be an assessment of the weather situation five hours before the new launch date, and then one hour before takeoff to confirm the possibility of proceeding with the decision to launch the probe on time.

The Hope Probe will orbit 5 hours in the “Abu Dhabi Media” space before its launch to Mars

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As is well known, space projects and missions aimed at exploring the planets or the universe around us face multiple challenges and difficulties, due to the nature of the space sector, which requires flexibility in decision-making to ensure the achievement of the desired goals and results, and for this reason these projects enjoy long periods of preparation and experiments to ensure the best success rate Maybe.

The Japan Meteorological Agency forecast more heavy rain in central and western Japan, warning of floods, landslides, rising rivers and strong winds. Since July 4, Japan has witnessed heavy rains that have caused many floods and landslides, amounting to 378 landslides, and about 14 homes were destroyed or damaged in Kyushu and in western and central Japan, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Authority.

launch window

A day was set 15 July 2020A target date for launching the Hope Probe, which is the first day within the “launch window” of this historic space mission, as this window extends from 15 July and even 03 2020سطس XNUMXNote that setting the date of the “launch window” is subject to accurate scientific calculations related to the movement of the orbits of both Earth and Mars, in order to ensure that the probe reaches its planned orbit around Mars in the shortest possible time and with the least possible energy. The “launch window” period extends for several days in anticipation of climatic conditions, orbital movement, and others, and accordingly, the launch of the probe can be postponed and a new date set more than once as long as this is within the open launch window.

A decision will be taken to move forward with launching the Hope Probe, at the new date that was set at dawn on Friday 17 July 2020Based on weather data, it is likely that in the absence of suitable weather conditions, another date for the space mission will be set, within the launch window, which extends about three weeks.

Postponing the launch of space missions, especially Mars, is common and expected, whether due to unfavorable weather conditions, or urgent technical problems, as it is possible to postpone the launch for any reason, to ensure the availability of the highest success rates, as long as the postponement is within the framework of the available launch window.

The US space agency (NASA) has postponed the launch of the Rover "Perseverance" PerseveranceThe new Mars space mission, three times to date, knowing that the mission was scheduled to launch to the Red Planet in 17 July Ongoing, then the launch date was postponed to 20 July, before being postponed for the third time to become in 22 July, before the date is moved to 30 JulyEach time, the reason for the delay was due to technical problems that appeared during the test of the missile after it was assembled and refueled. The rover is expected to reach Mars in February 2021, knowing that NASA experts have announced that if the rover is not launched this summer before the launch window closes in mid-August, it will have to postpone its launch to the fall of 2022.

Prior to that, the launch of the Exo Mars mission was postponed. ExoMars To explore Mars, which was scheduled to be launched by the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the European Space Agency last March until 2022 due to technical failures. This space mission comes within the framework of the "Exo Mars Project", which aims to study the red planet and its atmosphere and investigate any possible form of life on the red planet.

In addition, the American company, “SpaceX” postponed the launch of the tenth batch of its satellites three times, as the first postponement of the launch process, according to which it should have placed 57 additional satellites in Earth’s orbits, came on June 26, and the delay came The second was on the eighth of this month of July, due to weather conditions, while the third postponement came on the 11th of it, due to the need for more verification and auditing.