UAE Mars mission postponed due to weather conditions

The United Arab Emirates has postponed the launch of its mission to Mars due to weather conditions at the launch site in Japan.

The UAE government communications office said that a new launch date in July will be announced soon.

The UAE's Hope Probe, the first interplanetary mission by an Arab country, was due to launch from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Center at 12:51am UAE time on Wednesday for a seven-month journey to the red planet.

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While the mission objective is to provide a comprehensive image of the weather dynamics in Mars' atmosphere and pave the way for scientific breakthroughs, the probe is a foundation for a much bigger goal - building a human settlement on Mars within the next 100 years.

The oil-rich Gulf nation plan to establish a "science city" on Earth that will reproduce Mars' atmospheric conditions, with the goal of establishing a human colony on the Red Planet around 2117.

Also Read: US, China and UAE all set to take advantage of Mars' current position

Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency have successfully sent missions to orbit the Red Planet, while China is preparing to launch its first Mars rover later this month.

(With inputs from agencies)