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Mission record

Emirates Mars Mission (Hope)

Also known as Hope, Al-Amal, EmiratesMarsMission(Hope), Hope Probe, Emirates Mars Mission

United Arab Emirates · Launched

Explore trajectory

Active · Active

Hope, the United Arab Emirates’ Mars orbiter, launched on July 19, 2020 UTC and entered Mars orbit on February 9, 2021. Its three instruments study the atmosphere in infrared, visible and ultraviolet light. Science operations began on May 23, 2021 after the initial capture orbit was reshaped.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
H-2A
Launch site
Tanegashima, Japan
Countries
United Arab Emirates
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched from Tanegashima on an H-IIA

    The mission launched from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan at 21:58:14 UT on 19 July 2020 (July 20 1:58 a.m. UAE time, 6:58 a.m. Japan time) on a Mitsubishi H-IIA booster, and the launch/orbital information page gives the same instant as 2020-07-19T21:58:14Z. The mission's own site prints the launch by its local label, LAUNCHED 20th July 2020, 01:58 AM (Dubai Time), LAUNCH LOCATION Tanegashima Space Centre, Japan. NSSDCA's Funding Agency line reads Unknown (United Arab Emirates), so the agency and the country here are both that parenthesis; the only institution any cited page attaches to the spacecraft is the image credit Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), which is not a funding statement and is not committed as an agency.

    Earth

  2. Orbit insertion

    Hope performed its Mars orbit insertion burn

    The insertion burn lasted about 27 minutes. This event retains the Earth-received time reported by NSSDCA, which is not the spacecraft maneuver epoch. The mission-team paper distinguishes the initial capture orbit, approximately 1,000 × 49,000 km in altitude, from the later roughly 20,000 × 43,000 km science orbit.

    Mars

  3. Milestone

    Hope began its primary science phase

    The mission-team phase table records May 23, 2021 as the start of science operations, following capture-orbit reshaping and instrument commissioning. The science orbit has an approximately 55-hour period.

    Mars

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Hope Probe · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: July 19, 2020 to November 25, 2026

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Hope: Reconstructed · July 19, 2020 to November 25, 2026

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 13, 2026