The Emirates Mars Mission's 'Hope Probe' has released its ninth dataset, featuring insights into the Martian atmosphere from the surface to the outer edges of its atmosphere daily. This information was captured by the probe's three science instruments: the Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS), the Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS), and the Emirates Exploration Imager (EXI).
After completing its primary science mission of collecting data on the Martian atmosphere for a full Martian year, an equivalent of two Earth years, the mission is now on its extended mission to understand the interannual variations of the Martian atmosphere for an additional Earth year, going beyond the initial expectations set for this mission. The mission continues its track record of going beyond expectations, such as when it discovered new types of Mars Aurora and obtained magnificent images of Deimos, the smaller Martian moon, which it has continued to regularly observe.
The mission has three main science objectives that cover understanding lower atmospheric processes, upper atmosphere loss, and the link between the two. These objectives will help reveal the mysteries surrounding the Martian atmosphere and how it is lost to space. The unique orbit of the ‘Hope probe’ allows the science community to explore the daily and seasonal variation of the Martian atmosphere by analyzing the mission’s data.
As part of the continuous effort to share the data with the global science community, the Emirates Mars Mission has released its ninth dataset. The ninth dataset includes data from all three instruments captured from March 1, 2023, to May 31, 2023. This dataset features a collection of high-frequency cloud images, meticulously taken by EXI on April 11 and 25, 2023, May 6, 13, 18, and 22, 2023. These EXI observations allow for the study of short term changes occurring to the clouds on Mars and their movement. And as the Sun approaches the peak of its 11-year cycle of activity, aurora have become even more prominent in the EMUS nightside observations, with a particularly fantastic light show of discrete aurora over the strongest crustal magnetic fields in the Southern hemisphere on April 27-28, 2023.
With the release of the ninth batch, the Emirates Mars Mission's 'Hope Probe' has now unveiled a staggering amount of 3.3 Terabytes of atmospheric data from the red planet through its Science Data Center.
At the 74th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2023) in Baku, Azerbaijan, the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) honored the Emirates Mars Mission's 'Hope Probe' team with the 2023 Laurels for Team Achievement Award. This recognition is a tribute to their dedicated efforts in advancing our understanding of Mars. Their significant contributions include providing the global scientific community with essential data, enabling the creation of a comprehensive map of Mars' atmosphere, and unveiling groundbreaking observations of the smaller Martian moon, Deimos.