Abu Dhabi: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has shared the clearest image ever taken of Mars moon Deimos.
On Monday, Sheikh Mohammed took to Twitter to share the detailed photographs taken by UAE’s Hope Probe, which was launched as part of the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM).
The spacecraft, which spent more than two years orbiting Mars for the first time in the Arab world, flew as close as 100 kilometers to the lunar surface to capture important data on its composition that challenges long-standing theories that the Martian moons are captured asteroids – space rocks trapped in a planet’s orbit.
Sheikh Mohammed praised the new results, expressing his pride in the young scientists who participated in the mission and the contribution they made to the march of human knowledge.
“The Emirates Mars Mission’s “Hope Probe” has captured the clearest image of Martian moon Deimos, which is 100km away, marking a global first,” Sheikh Mohammed tweeted.
“Previously, theories suggested that Deimos was an outer asteroid captured in Martian orbit. However, the Hope Probe’s instruments and team have shown that the moon was once a part of Mars and separated from it millions of years ago, much like Earth’s moon,” he adds.
“We are proud of our young scientists, our knowledge and our contribution to the pursuit of human knowledge,” he added.
The UAE achieved its goal on February 9, 2021, when it became the first Arab country to enter the orbit of the Red Planet and the fifth space agency to accomplish this mission.
Since then, the Hope Probe has been broadcasting amazing pictures of the planet, revealing its geographical features and weather conditions.
