UAE lit up in red; Arab world in the hope

Dubai: Ahead of the Arab World's first interplanetary mission to enter the Martian orbit, UAE homes, government offices, tourism centres and offices are lit in red, the probe's theme. The 'Hope Probe', officially called the 'Emirates Mars Mission', covered 493 million kilometres over seven months and is all set to enter the Red Planet's orbit tomorrow; estimated at 7.42 PM.

"Only one day separating us from witnessing the dream of a nation enter the dark 27 minutes that determine our future and our fate. We hope for Hope as it gets closer to being captured into Mars' orbit," the official Hope Mars Mission Twitter handle tweeted.

"Upon completing the Mars Orbit insertion, the UAE will be the fifth nation in human history to reach the Red planet. It is now time to end 50 years of ambition, with a new beginning," it added.

Burj Khalifa, Burj Al Arab, Global Village, Dubai Frame, Police Headquarters, Abu Dhabi Qasr Al Watan Palace, Khalifa University, Yas Island, Sheikh Zayed Bridge are all red. The national leaders and government offices' profile pictures are all hope-beat, a unified image captioned 'Arabs to Mars'. The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) teams are relentlessly working to observe the orbiter launched after six years of hard work on July 19, 2020.

The Arab region also lit up their landmarks in support such as Takhassusi Street in Riyadh, the Bahrain World Trade Center, Kuwait Tower, Cairo Tower in Egypt, Roman Theatre in Jordan, The Iraq Museum and the Baghdad Mall in Iraq to celebrate the region's entry into space exploration. The leaders of different Arab countries also extended their wishes.