A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan with the 75h Progress supply ship for the International Space Station. Credit: Roscosmos

A Soyuz rocket decorated to mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe fired into space Friday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, sending a Progress supply ship on a fast-track, three-hour pursuit of the International Space Station.

The Soyuz-2.1a booster ignited its kerosene-fueled engines at climbed away from Launch Pad No. 31 at Baikonur at 9:51:41 p.m. EDT Friday (0151 GMT Saturday) to kick off a nine-minute climb into orbit.

Liftoff occurred at 6:51 a.m. Baikonur time Saturday, and the Soyuz arced into clear skies toward the northeast over the barren Kazakh steppe.

The Soyuz-2.1a rocket was adorned with markings and the number 75 on its payload shroud, signifying the launch occurred on the 75th anniversary of the meeting of U.S. and Soviet troops on the Elbe River in Germany in the final days of World War II in Europe.

The number has a double significance because the cargo mission is the 75th Progress resupply flightto the International Space Station since 2000.

The Soyuz launch was timed less than a minute before the space station soared directly over the historic Central Asia spaceport, putting the Progress cargo freighter on course to dock with the orbiting research outpost less than three-and-a-half hours later.

The Progress MS-14 supply ship separated from the Soyuz rockets third stage around nine minutes into the flight. Seconds later, the automated cargo carrier unfurled navigation antennas and power-generating solar arrays.

A series of thruster firings put the Progress MS-14 in position to begin a final approach to the space station around three hours after launch. The radar-guided rendezvous culminated in a link-up with the rear port of the space stations Zvezda service module at 1:12 a.m. EDT (0512 GMT).

The Progress MS-14 spacecrafts pressurized compartment is packed with nearly 3,000 pounds (1,350 kilograms) of dry cargo, including food, medicine, sanitary and hygienic materials, and equipment for space station systems.

The supply ship also carries around 1,543 pounds (700 kilograms) of propellant for transfer into the stations Zvezda module propulsion system, 926 pounds (420 kilograms) of water, and around 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of compressed air to replenish the stations breathable atmosphere.

After docking, the three-man space station crew will open hatches to the Progress supply ship and begin unpacking the spacecrafts pressurized cabin. The Progress MS-14 spacecraft is scheduled to remain docked at the station through late 2020, when it will depart with trash and re-enter the Earths atmosphere for destruction over the South Pacific Ocean.

The arrival of the space stations next Progress supply shipment occurred a week after the departure of the research labs last crew. Russian cosmonaut Oleg Skripochka and NASA crewmates Jessica Meir and Andrew Morgan landed in Kazakhstan on April 17, leaving veteran NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy in command of the International Space Station.

Cassidy and his Russian crewmates Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner launched April 9 for their long-duration expedition on the station, expected to last more than six months.

A Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft that arrived at the space station in February is scheduled to depart the orbiting complex May 11. Like the Progress, the Cygnus freighter will carry trash away from the station and burn up in the atmosphere.

A Japanese HTV cargo ship is scheduled for launch May 20 from the Tanegashima Space Center in Japan. Loaded with several tons of experiments and a fresh set of solar array batteries, the HTV cargo carrier is due to arrive at the space station May 25.

Then SpaceXs Crew Dragon spaceship is set for its first launch with astronauts as soon as May 27 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken will fly aboard the Crew Dragon, with docking at the space station set for May 28 to begin a mission lasting several months.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Soyuz launches from Kazakhstan with space station supply ship - Spaceflight Now

By Layal Liverpool

Credit: Delphotos/Alamy

Astronauts brains increase in volume after long space flights, causing pressure to build up inside their heads. This may explain why some astronauts experience worsened vision after prolonged periods in space.

This raises additional concerns for long-duration interplanetary travel, such as the future mission to Mars, says Larry Kramer at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, who led the study.

Kramer and his colleagues scanned the brains of 11 astronauts before they spent about six months on the International Space Station, and at six points over the year after they returned to Earth. They found that all the astronauts had increased brain volume including white matter, grey matter and cerebrospinal fluid around the brain after returning from space.

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Under normal gravity, it is thought that fluid in the brain naturally moves downwards when we stand upright. But there is evidence that microgravity prevents this, resulting in accumulation of fluid in the brain and skull.

The astronauts brain volume increased by 2 per cent on average and the increases were still present one year after they returned to Earth, which could result in higher intracranial pressure, Kramer says. He suspects this might press on the optic nerve, potentially explaining the vision problems frequently reported by astronauts.

Kramer and his team also observed that part of the brain called the pituitary gland was deformed in six out of the 11 astronauts. These results add to a body of evidence suggesting that brain structure can be altered after space flight.

This study is important because it provides data, for the first time in NASA astronauts, demonstrating the persistence of structural brain changes even up to one year following return to Earth, says Donna Roberts at the Medical University of South Carolina.

We are currently working on methods to counteract the changes we are observing in the brain using artificial gravity, says Kramer. These methods to pull blood back towards the feet could include a human-sized centrifuge that would spin a person around at high speed, or a vacuum chamber around the lower half of the body.

Hopefully one of these or other methods will be tested in microgravity and show efficacy, he says.

Journal reference: Radiology, DOI: 10.1148/radiol.2020191413

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Long space flights can increase the volume of astronauts' brains - New Scientist News

Last Tuesday, a team of engineers sat huddled around their computer screens, monitoring a spacecraft as it maneuvered around a rocky asteroid more than 140 million miles from Earth. They were conducting an important interplanetary dress rehearsal, running the spacecraft through many of the operations it will do in August when it attempts to snag a tiny sample of rocks from the asteroids surface. This dress rehearsal has been in the works for years, and the team had expected to be gathered together for it in a mission center in Colorado.

Instead, most of them kept tabs on the event from home. It was a skeleton crew that was supporting the event in person, compared to what was originally planned, Mike Moreau, deputy project manager for the mission at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, tells The Verge. More than three-quarters of the team was doing it from home and monitoring remotely.

Moreau is part of NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission, tasked with grabbing a sample of the asteroid Bennu and bringing it back to Earth for study. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft launched in 2016, and the team had planned for this particular dress rehearsal for more than a decade. They hadnt counted on a pandemic occurring during one of the most highly anticipated checkpoints of their mission but the show had to go on.

We were all going to be there together in the mission operations area, and we actually had rehearsed that even before this checkpoint rehearsal; we had done a simulation, Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator on NASAs OSIRIS-REx mission at the University of Arizona, tells The Verge. None of that happened. We were all in remote work conditions.

Just like millions of workers all over the world, the engineers who operate spacecraft are grappling with how to do their jobs while working from home. All of NASAs centers have instituted mandatory telework policies, with some exceptions for essential personnel. That includes many people who are tasked with calculating commands for interplanetary space probes and navigating rovers through harsh terrains on other worlds.

For some, the transition was awkward at first since operating a spacecraft often relies on ample amounts of in-person communication. Thats been the case for Carrie Bridge, who works as a liaison between scientists and the engineers who operate NASAs Curiosity rover on Mars. Every day, she talks with scientists all over the country about the kind of science theyd like the rover to accomplish, and then she relays those desires to the engineers who actually navigate the robot. Normally, she just walks over to the engineering team at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, to coordinate the rovers movements for the day.

My morning consisted of being on the phone with the scientists and then going in and sitting beside the rover planners at the computer, Bridge tells The Verge. And we look at the terrain and look at the targets. I then go and report back to the scientists and say, Okay I think we can drive over here.

Now, that entire routine has been moved online. She says she has about 15 to 20 chat rooms open for all of the engineers and rover planners not to mention telecons with scientists across the country. The level of intensity has gone up because youre kind of always watching things, Bridge says. Im also not exercising anymore, she jokes. I used to walk around, and now Im staring at a computer station for hours on end without moving.

One of the lead rover planners that Bridge communicates with is Matt Gildner, who is also coordinating all the commands for Curiosity from his one-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles. He and his team started testing how to work remotely back in mid-March when the writing was on the wall about the COVID-19 pandemic, he says. He started coordinating everything theyd need to have at home, including audio headsets, monitors, cables, and even 3D glasses. Curiosity sends back 3D images of the Martian terrain, which the rover planners and engineers observe as 3D meshes, allowing them to simulate how the rover will interact with the environment when it moves.

Im at home now, and I have all my headsets on as I talk to multiple audio channels, put on my red-blue glasses and evaluate parts of a drive that were planning for a few minutes as part of our planning day, Gildner tells The Verge. I have a nice desk set up and Ive got all my houseplants around me, dual monitors, and a good keyboard and mouse headset stand. And this is working out just fine.

Someone does need to physically be at mission control at JPL in order to send Curiosity the commands that Gildner and his team develop. That person sends commands out to the Deep Space Network, an array of large radio antennas here on Earth, which then beam commands to interplanetary space probes like the rover.

Other spacecraft operators have figured out a way to send commands to their spacecraft without actually having anyone in a mission control center. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Utah is responsible for operating two small NASA satellites HARP and CIRiS which are both observing Earth. The team there typically goes into a mission control center to send commands to the spacecraft via a ground station in Virginia. But in a weird twist of fate, operators at the lab came up with a way to actually send the commands from their laptops at home just before everyone went into lockdown.

We were preparing and testing out our working from home techniques right before the pandemic hit, Ryan Martineau, an SDL engineer and spacecraft operator, tells The Verge. We frequently have to operate our spacecraft in the middle of the night, and so we didnt have to have the same two people driving into work every day, we were getting ready to test a secure solution.

Martineau and his colleagues essentially took the software they use at their mission control centers that allows them to connect with the Virginia ground station, and they put it in their local computers. We run a [virtual] Linux machine inside of our Windows laptop that has all the software we need to run the spacecraft, he says. Thanks to this arrangement, Martineau can control the spacecraft around Earth from his home for the foreseeable future. And that means juggling other responsibilities while maintaining the satellites.

I have a three year old and a three month old, Martineau says. There have been a couple of cases where I had to hurry up with a diaper change real quick before I needed to send some commands to the spacecraft.

The presence of children and pets has been a mainstay for many at NASAs workforce at home. One of our dogs [a Great Dane] has this habit of squeaking his toys when he wants attention, Amber Straughn, the associate director for the astrophysics science division at Goddard, writes in an email to The Verge. Hes definitely done that a couple times when Ive been in telecons.

New work companions have also been present for the OSIRIS-REx team as they prepared for their big dress rehearsal last week. Many of the team managers have had to juggle family responsibilities, such as remote learning, as they prepared for the event. For some of the managers it has been really stressful because we obviously wanted to see this go forward, Moreau says. But we were also very concerned about how our people were holding up.

Ultimately, everyone made it to the day of the rehearsal. But with most of the team away from Lockheed Martins mission control center in Colorado, some adjustments needed to be made. Theres no substitute for being in the same building; being on the same floor; being able to walk over to somebodys office and say, Hey, now I was just thinking about this. How does it look on your side? Lauretta says. We couldnt really do any of that.

Lauretta says the team made do with calls, which mostly worked, though there were a few technical difficulties. For some reason my phone kept going on mute, he says. Id be dialed in, and I would be talking and nobody would be hearing me. While that was frustrating, he said everyone was in good spirits. Actually everybody was just happy to be talking to each other on the group chat.

Despite the added challenges, the rehearsal went off without a hitch. During the practice session, OSIRIS-REx got closer to Bennu than its ever been before. It was a key maneuver that paves the way for OSIRIS-REx to get right next to Bennus surface in August and scoop up 60 grams of rocks from a crater called Nightingale. The engineers are thrilled with the result, though there was definitely some sadness over the unexpected circumstances.

I would say it was bittersweet in the sense that it was a great day; everything went according to plan. But we didnt get to celebrate it as a team, says Lauretta, who notes that theyve been waiting for this big test for over a decade. Were hopeful that by August, well all be able to gather together and actually celebrate the actual sample collection event.

For now, its unclear exactly when extreme social distancing will be over, allowing everyone not just spacecraft operators to return to their normal daily routines. But until that time arrives, the people in charge of operating spacecraft are making the most of their new mission control centers at home. For Gildner, its even been a nice distraction from the daily cycle of news surrounding the virus.

Work is a nice escape from everything thats going on, especially when youre working on a spaceflight project, Gildner says You feel like youre doing something that is very worthwhile that humanity appreciates, and right now thats important more than ever, I think.

Continued here:

How engineers are operating space missions from their homes - The Verge

Long before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin famously set foot on the moon, the hero of Americas human spaceflight program was a chimpanzee named Ham. On Jan. 31, 1961 a few months before Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarins pioneering flight Ham became the first hominid in space.

Other nonhominid animals had ventured into space before Ham, but he and his fellow astrochimps were trained to pull levers and prove it was physically possible to pilot the Project Mercury spacecraft. And, unlike many other unfortunate primates in the spaceflight program, Ham survived his mission and went on to have a long life.

Ham proved that mankind could live and work in space, reads his grave marker in New Mexico.

Miss Baker, a squirrel monkey, shown just before her flight to space in 1958 on a Jupiter rocket an intermediate-range ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads, not monkeys. Miss Baker and another monkey, a rhesus macaque named Able, both survived the flight and became the first animals the U.S. returned safely from space. (Credit: NASA)

The U.S. Air Force was the first to launch primates into space. Instead of chimps, smaller monkeys were their preferred choice. But those early missions didnt go well for either human or animal.

In 1948, a decade before the creation of NASA, the Air Force strapped a male rhesus monkey named Albert into a capsule on top of a souped-up, Nazi-designed V-2 rocket and launched it from White Sands, New Mexico. Poor Albert suffocated before he reached space.

The next year, a monkey named Albert II was sent on a similar mission. Unlike his predecessor, Albert II succeeded in becoming the first monkey to survive a launch and reach space. Unfortunately, on his journey home, Albert II died when the capsules parachute failed. His spacecraft left a 10-foot-wide crater in the New Mexico desert.

In 1951, the Air Force finally managed to keep a monkey this one named Albert VI alive through both launch and landing. But his capsule failed to reach the boundary of space, leaving him out of the record books.

The honor of first primates to survive a return trip to space goes to a squirrel monkey named Miss Baker, and a rhesus macaque named Able. The pair were launched in 1959 on a Jupiter rocket, an intermediate-range ballistic missile designed to carry nuclear warheads, not monkeys. Sadly, Able died just days after returning to Earth due to complications from a medical procedure.

Ham the astrochimp wears his spacesuit complete with NASA meatball logo prior to his 1961 test flight into space. (Credit: NASA)

While America was struggling to send monkeys into space, their adversaries were racking up animal success stories. Rather than monkeys, the Soviet Union preferred to crew their early spacecraft with stray dogs. And by the time of Miss Bakers and Ables trip, the country had already safely launched and landed dozens of canines. (Though they also experienced a number of gruesome dog deaths.)

By the early 1960s, the U.S. was ready for its first real human spaceflight program, Project Mercury. But instead of monkeys or humans the nascent National Aeronautics and Space Administration decided its inaugural class of astronauts would be chimps.

Monkeys, chimps and humans are all primates. However, chimpanzees and humans are both hominids, which means were much more closely related. In fact, humans share more DNA with chimps than with any other animal.

Beyond their genetic similarities to humans, chimps are also incredibly smart and have complex emotions. This is why NASA figured that if chimps could endure the trip beyond Earths atmosphere in primitive early space capsules, there was a good chance a human astronaut could survive the journey, too.And, whereas monkeys and dogs had been mere passengers, NASA needed a test subject with the intelligence and dexterity to actually prove it could operate a spacecraft.

As NASA put it: Intelligent and normally docile, the chimpanzee is a primate of sufficient size and sapience to provide a reasonable facsimile of human behavior.

All told, the U.S. government acquired 40 chimps for its Mercury program. And one of those males was Ham. He had been captured by trappers in the French Cameroons and taken to the Miami Rare Bird Farm in Florida. From there, Ham and others were soon sold to the military and transferred to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The chimps received daily training, including some of the same G-force exposure simulations as their human Mercury 7 counterparts. But, most importantly, handlers taught Ham and the other chimps to pull a lever every time a blue light came on. If they performed the task, they got a tiny banana treat. If they failed, they got a small electric shock to their feet.

Over the course of the training, handlers winnowed the final group of astrochimps down to just six, including four females and two males. Then, with their training complete, the Air Force sent the hominids to Cape Canaveral in Florida on Jan. 2, 1961.

Out of the six chimps, NASA and an Air Force veterinarian ultimately selected Ham, then known as No. 65. He was chosen just before his flight because he seemed particularly feisty and in good humor, according to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

Ham gives the commander of the USS Donner a handshake. (Credit: NASA)

Those traits would pay off during the mission. Following his launch on Jan. 31, 1961, Hams Mercury capsule unintentionally carried him far higher and faster than NASA intended. His capsule also partially lost air pressure, though the chimp was unharmed because he was sealed inside an inner chamber.

Well never know what Ham was thinking during his six and a half minutes of weightlessness. But, like the later human Mercury astronauts, Ham could have seen out of the capsules small porthole window.

As far as his mission was concerned, Ham successfully pulled his lever at the proper time, performing only a tad slower than he had during practice runs on Earth. By simply tugging on a lever, Ham proved that human astronauts could perform basic physical tasks in orbit, too.

Roughly 16 and a half minutes after launch, Ham splashed down in the ocean. And although the capsule took on some water while recovery crews converged, the chimp seemed unfazed once aboard the rescue ship USS Donner even shaking the commanders hand. Ham eventually became the subject of documentaries and cartoons and graced the covers of national magazines.

He lived out the rest of his life in the North Carolina Zoo, where he died in 1983 at age 25.

Following Ham, just one other chimp would ever journey to space. Enos, who was also bought from the Miami Rare Bird Farm and trained alongside Ham, orbited Earth on Nov. 29, 1961. He was the third hominid to circle our planet, following cosmonauts Gagarin and Gherman Titov.

In the decades since, many other types of monkeys have flown to space on U.S., Russian, Chinese, French and Iranian spacecraft. NASA continued sending monkeys to orbit all the way into the 1990s, when pressure from animal rights groups, including PETA, pushed the space agency to reexamine the ethics of such research. As a result, NASA pulled out of the Bion program, a series of joint missions with Russia that was intended to study the impact of spaceflight on living organisms.

These animals performed a service to their respective countries that no human could or would have performed, says NASAs history of animals in spaceflight webpage. They gave their lives and/or their service in the name of technological advancement, paving the way for humanitys many forays into space.

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A Brief History of Chimps in Space - Discover Magazine

Elon Musk's Starlink satellites will be visible once again tonight and throughout the rest of the weekend.

For the past week, a number of the 422 satellites have been visible to the naked eye as they pass over the county in low orbit.

The satellites were designed and delivered into space by the entrepreneur's private spaceflight company, SpaceX, with the aim of eventually providing high-speed internet to remote areas of the world.

SpaceX has so far been granted permission to place up to 12,000 satellites into orbit, and Elon Musk says 800 will be needed for moderate internet connection.

Eventually, there are hopes that up to 40,000 will be operational.

They are currently visible as they are in low orbit at around 550km, and can be seen tonight, travelling in a line commonly referred to as a 'train'.

The Findastarlink website says you may be able to spot satellite train Starlink-5 and Starlink-6 at around 9.45pm for around six minutes.

To see them, the website says you must look up to 10 degrees above the horizon, or up to 87 degrees depending on your position.

The satellite trains will be travelling from east to west.

Findastarlink says they may be visible on a number of occasions during the weekend, including:

Saturday, April 25: Starlink-5 and 6 at 9.45pm

Sunday, April 26: Starlink-3 at 4.50am

On April 22, residents across Nottinghamshire were also able to see SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket travelling from its launch pad in Florida and into space to deliver a further 60 satellites.

The rocket could be seen in Clifton, Beeston and Bingham trailing across the sky.

A mission to place more satellites into space happens around once a month.

The satellites are visible due to their position and reflective surfaces, which has become a concern for astronomers.

As a result, Elon Musk has now trailed a non-reflective coating on Starlink-2 to dim them in the night sky.

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Starlink satellites: When and how to see them flying over Nottinghamshire tonight - Nottinghamshire Live

The UAE Space Agency and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) announced the successful completion of the Hope probe's transfer to its launch site at the space station on Tanegashima Island in Japan, despite the Covid-19 pandemic challenges presented.

Positive message

Dr. Ahmed bin Abdullah Hamid Belhoul Al Falasi, Minister of State for Higher Education and Advanced Skills and Chairman of the UAE Space Agency confirmed that with the successful completion of the transfer of the Hope probe from Dubai to Japan, the UAE is sending a positive message to the world by moving forward with the Emirates Mars Mission, as planned previously, despite the challenges resulting from the global coronavirus pandemic.

He added: "We would like to take this opportunity to extend our highest gratitude and appreciation to the wise leadership of the UAE for their continuous and unlimited support on this project to explore Mars and the national team of young women and men dedicated to this project."

"Nothing is Impossible", in word and in action

Sara Al Amiri, Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, Deputy Project Manager of EMM, pointed out that the Emirates Mars Mission is part of the UAE's accelerated developmental journey to further establish itself as a leader in space science and exploration.

She added: "Today, we must celebrate the scientific achievement of our engineers, scientists and technicians. This milestone will become an integral part of the UAE's history that we collectively take pride in. This project will become the largest scientific addition to the Arab World's notable achievements in the space and sciences industry."

She extended her appreciation to the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the National Emergency Crisis and Disaster Management Authority, UAE General Civil Aviation Authority, Dubai Police, the UAE embassy in Japan, and Akihiko Nakajima, the Japanese Ambassador to the UAE, in facilitating the process of transferring the Probe from Dubai to Japan.

Specific Space Mission

Omran Sharaf, Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission Project, stressed that the project represents a great challenge since the day the UAE announced its launch. Since then, the Emirati team have cultivated a wealth of knowledge and experiences.

He pointed out that the successful transfer of the probe to its launch site on Tanegashima Island in Japan is done according to plan and at the highest levels of accuracy, which reflects the keenness of the team to complete the first project of its kind in the UAE and the region to achieve the vision of the UAE's leadership.

He added that the ongoing support and motivation received from the UAE's leadership and the great cooperation from many government agencies contributed to achieving this milestone, which comes despite the challenges posed by the novel COVID-19. He concluded that after the arrival of the Hope probe in Japan, the team will begin preparing for the launch that will take place this July.

Stages of The Probe transport

The journey of moving the Hope probe from Dubai to the launch site on Tanegashima Island in Japan went through three major phases. It required the activation of specific scientific procedures and the provision of integrated logistical conditions to ensure the completion of the process of the probe in an optimal manner.

The first phase

The first stage included the transportation of the probe from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center to the Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, which lasted 12 hours, from 8 am to 8 pm. It included the preparation and loading of the shipping container specially designed for the probe, and rehabilitating it with all the required equipment to be as a clean mini-mobile room that maintains the specified temperature and humidity, and works on using nitrogen to disinfect the probe and sensitive scientific devices from any dust particles in the air.

This was followed by loading the mechanical ground support equipment represented by the probe- supporting devices to help in the process of moving it, and electronic support equipment to help monitor the state of the probe during the flight in addition to its use in preparations for launch. Then, it was transported in a special freight container on a truck carrying the probe at a slow pace and at a specified speed to reduce the percentage of vibrations, all the way to equipping the container at the airport and loading it on the plane.

The second phase

The second phase extended from Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai to Nagoya Airport in Japan. It included loading the probe and ground support equipment to the giant Antonov 124 logistical transport plane intended for the shipment of mega equipment, which is the largest cargo plane in the world, and continued to Japan for 11 hours. The team also monitored the intensity of the air bumps where severe vibrations would affect the structure of the probe. The team accompanying the probe delivered it to the team in Japan upon arrival at Nagoya Airport.

The third phase

As for the third stage, it extended from Nagoya Airport to the launch site on Tanegashima Island, and included carefully landing the probe from the plane, examining the probe and ensuring its safety, then transporting the probe by land from Nagoya Airport to the port of Shimama, and finally, moving it by sea from the port of Shimama to Tanegashima Island. After arriving to the port on the island, the team at the launch site worked to unload and check the probe before starting to prepare for the launch.

The supervising team

The team overseeing the transport operations included Omran Sharaf, Emirates Mars Mission project manager, Suhail Al Muhairi, Deputy Project Manager from the Probe Development Team, Khulood Al Harmoudi, Deputy Project Director from the Quality and Safety Assurance Team, and Mohsen Al Awadi, responsible for the transportation of the probe in the Probe Development Team, and Omar Al-Shehhi from the Probe Development Team, Leader of the transportation team from Japan Airport to Tanegashima Island.

Global best practices

In light of the challenges posed by COVID-19 during the transfer of the Hope probe from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center to Al Maktoum International Airport to Japan and then to the launch station - the best global health procedures were followed in order to preserve the health and safety of the team, as well as the team accompanying the probe on its flight to Japan. In addition, there was a third team that traveled early and underwent quarantine procedures in Japan to be able to receive the probe upon arrival, to oversee its transportation to the launch station into space.

The Hope probe is a national project that translates the vision of the United Arab Emirates' leadership to build an Emirati space program that reflects the nation's commitment to strengthening the frameworks of international cooperation and partnership with a view to finding solutions to global challenges for the good of humanity.

It is planned that the Hope probe's mission to Mars will start in mid-July 2020 from the Tanegashima Space Center using the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI H2A) platform and is expected to reach the Red Planet's orbit in the first quarter (February) of the year 2021.

The Hope probe, the first Arab project to explore other planets, carries a message of hope for all peoples of the region, in a way that contributes to reviving the rich history of Arab and Islamic achievements in all sciences. The Hope probe embodies the aspirations of the UAE, and its leadership's continuous pursuit of challenging and overcoming the impossible and consolidating this trend as a firm value in the identity of the state and the culture of its people. The Emirates Mars Mission is also an Emirati contribution to shaping and making a promising future for humanity.

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UAE's Mars Hope Probe on its way amid Covid-19 pandemic - Khaleej Times