The UAE to launch first Arab space mission to Mars next month

The unmanned space probe Amal (Hope) is due to lift off from the Japanese island of Tanegasima during a narrow launch window on July 14, powered by a Japanese rocket. It will carry three types of sensors for measuring the atmosphere of the Red Planet, program director Sarah Al-Amiri told reporters. One mission project will be to seek data on how oxygen and hydrogen, components of water, are escaping from the planet. The probe will orbit Mars for an entire Martian year of 687 days, sending back new climate data to earth.