UAE unveils its first ever spacecraft prototype made of aluminium

In a historical display at the ongoing Dubai Air Show, UAE unveiled its first ever spacecraft ‘Hope’ that will orbit Mars. The spacecraft made up of aluminium frame with lightweight aluminium honeycomb panels will be launched as a part of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) in July 2020.

In July 2014, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates had announced Project Hope. Thanks to its aluminium built, the spacecraft will weigh 1,500kg with fuel.

As a part of the EMM, Hope spacecraft will gather climate and atmosphere related data from Mars which will be shared for free with the public.

Made using aluminium frames, the spacecraft measures 2.37 metres in width and 2.90 metres in height excluding the solar panels. In space it will charge its batteries using three 600 watt solar panels. Navigation sensors are being installed in the spacecraft in addition to star trackers and sun sensors.

Hope will also carry three scientific instruments for its mission- an imager, an infra-redspectrometer and an ultraviolet spectrometer.

Till now, EMM has completed the design phase of the project and currently, Hope is being manufactured.