Going to Mars is hard.

A staggering 52% of all missions sent to the Red Planet have failed either during launch, in transit, or while attempting to land on/enter orbit of Mars.

Now, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) looks to join the extremely small list of nations/space organizations that have reached for our shared Martian goal.

Meet Al Amal, “hope” -- a name chosen by the Arab public to send a message of optimism to millions of Arabs across Earth.

Al Amal is the Emirates’ first interplanetary mission and furthers the UAE’s rapidly-expanding presence in space exploration following last year’s launch of the first Emirati astronaut to the International Space Station.

The Emirates is the seventh nation/supranational space organization to try to reach Mars behind the Soviet Union/Russia, the United States, Japan, the European Space Agency, China, and India.

After a multi-month cruise between planets, Al Amal is scheduled to arrive in Mars orbit in 2021 to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Arab Emirates.

If the probe successfully enters orbit, the Emirates will become only the fifth nation/entity to successfully reach Mars; China and Japan have yet to succeed with a Red Planet mission.

Over the course of its planned two Earth year -- one Martian year -- mission, Al Amal’s instruments will allow scientists from across Earth to investigate:

• the day-to-day and season-to-season changes in Mars’ weather cycles,
• dust storm formation, and
• weather variations across the planet.

These objectives were agreed by the global Mars science community and will help produce more accurate computer models of Martian and Earth weather formations.

Mars’ continued loss of hydrogen and oxygen molecules to space from its atmosphere can help us understand how Earth’s climate formed and evolved over millions of years.

This information is also vital for future robotic and human missions to the Red Planet.

All data gathered will be made available to over 200 research universities and institutes across the world to facilitate knowledge sharing.

Image: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre

The H-IIA Launch Vehicle is a high-performance rocket consisted from a First stage, Second stage, fairing, one or two pairs of Solid Rocket Boosters (SRB-As). The propulsion system runs on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. Two models are produced, the standard type H2A202 with two SRB-A's and the H2A204 type with four SRB-A's attached.

The First stage of the H-IIA Launch Vehicle consists of a high-performance LE-7A engine, an engine section, a propulsion system tank charged with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, a center section connecting the tanks, and an interstage section mating the First and Second stages. A Solid Rocket Booster (SRB-A) has also been newly developed to boost the thrust from the main engine. Two or four SRB-A's installed on the H-IIA Launch Vehicle are attached to the First stage.

The Second stage consists of a highly reliable LE-5B engine, a propulsion system tank charged with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, on-board electronic devices, etc. As a key feature for launch mission support, the LE-5B engine can be ignited up to three times.

Credit: Mitsubishi Heavy Industries

LA-Y1

Launch Area - Yoshinobu Launch Complex 1 (LA-Y1 for short) is part of a two-launch-pad area of the Tanegashima Space Center used for the H-II family of rockets.

The pad is located just 190 meters (624 ft) from neighboring pad LA-Y2.

The overall two-pad Yoshinobu Launch Complex is the northernmost launch site of the Tanegashima Space Center.

Rockets are assembled and processed vertically in the vehicle assembly building before technicians roll them out to the launch pad, a journey of 365 meters.

LA-Y1 hosted its first launch in February 1994 and has been active ever since.

Tanegashima Space Center

The Tanegashima Space Center is Japan's largest launch center and gets its name from the island Tanegashima it is located on.

Located in southern Japan, it is part of the overall Range, which handles Japan’s orbital launches.

The center opened for operations in October 1969 as part of the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). It is now owned by JAXA.

Tanegashima includes the Yoshinobu Launch Complex for the H-IIA and H-IIB rockets, a Vehicle Assembly Building, a Spacecraft Test and Assembly Building, and the Takesaki Range Control Center.

Image: Wikipedia