After five years orbiting the Red Planet — and sending 10 terabytes of data back to Earth — the UAE is extending its Mars probe mission to 2028. Adding an additional Martian year, roughly two of ours, will allow the Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) to gather more data on seasonal changes. So far, the probe has delivered new insights into weather patterns, auroras, and the moon Deimos.
Noora Alsaeed, principal investigator of the EMM, said one of the biggest surprises was that the planet’s atmosphere has proven to be far more complex than previously believed; the mission has uncovered secrets about what drives changes in its upper layers. The UAE is the only Arab country to have reached Mars, joining China, the European Space Agency, India, Russia, and the US in achieving the feat.