The Emirates Mars Exploration Program, the “Hope Probe”, revealed that a digital probe camera recently captured a group of “Deimos” images above the Moon from an altitude of about 400 kilometers.

The short interval that separates the period of taking these images is one image every minute, while it is allowed to obtain three-dimensional views of the moon, which is characterized by its small size and irregular shape.

Important data

From the beginning of 2023, the Hope probe was directed to fly around the moon “Deimos”, where several images were taken, which provided important data, in addition, some separate observations of the two moons of Mars, “Bophos” and “Deimos”, during the last fifty years.

The probe was moved to a new orbit, allowing unprecedented observation of Deimos, the smaller of Mars’ two moons, with continuous flybys about 150 kilometers from its orbit, as Deimos observes and understands the two moons less. Mars, unlike its brother Phobos, has received a large number of observations since it was first observed in 1969. Deimos differs from its sibling in having a wider orbit, as it completes Mars once every 30 hours.

Spectral image

The Hope probe flew for the first time, next to the “Demos” satellite, in late January and early February 2023, where instrument calibration activities were carried out to support the acquisition of high-definition and accurate images and observations. Its three instruments are a digital inspection camera, an infrared spectrometer and an X-ray spectrometer. Ultraviolet.

The probe succeeded in capturing the first extreme ultraviolet spectral image of the moon Deimos, which contributed to the identification of surface composition and space weather factors using the highly sensitive ultraviolet spectrum in orbit around the Red Planet.

A series of maneuvers

Last March, the Hope probe made a series of maneuvers near the Red Planet’s outer moon Deimos using a digital probe camera to collect several images during its flybys starting in early 2023, contributing to It adds observations made by other spacecraft over the past 50 years to obtain high-quality data.

Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos, both small, irregularly shaped moons. Deimos orbits Mars every 30 hours, and since spacecraft flybys near Martian moons are relatively rare, the new observations by the Hope probe offer the opportunity to gain new information about the moon’s character.

The expansion of the Hope probe mission came two years after the start of the science mission, reflecting the excellent performance of its science equipment, which provided a unique opportunity to set new science goals for positioning it in a new orbit. This allowed unprecedented observation of Deimos, the smaller of the two Martian moons. The slight change in its orbit allowed it to continue collecting data on the Martian atmosphere and contribute to observations of the Moon.