February 23, 2026
Methodology About Newsletter
WE THE UAE 2031
The Vanderbilt Terminal for the UAE's National Transformation
INDEPENDENT GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE FOR THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
UAE GDP: AED 2.03T ▲ 5.7% | Non-Oil GDP Share: 84.3% ▼ -5.2pp | FDI Inflows: $45.6B ▲ 48.7% | GDP Growth: 4.0% ▲ -0.3pp vs 2023 | Inflation: 1.7% ▼ +0.0pp vs 2023 | Female Participation: 55.1% ▲ +0.6pp vs 2023 | Population: 11.0M ▲ 4.8% | Emiratisation Rate: 12.5% ▲ 2.1pp | Global Competitiveness: #7 ▲ 3 places | Clean Energy Capacity: 7.2 GW ▲ 18.4% | ADX Index: 9,842 ▲ 4.7% | DFM Index: 4,621 ▲ 6.2% | UAE GDP: AED 2.03T ▲ 5.7% | Non-Oil GDP Share: 84.3% ▼ -5.2pp | FDI Inflows: $45.6B ▲ 48.7% | GDP Growth: 4.0% ▲ -0.3pp vs 2023 | Inflation: 1.7% ▼ +0.0pp vs 2023 | Female Participation: 55.1% ▲ +0.6pp vs 2023 | Population: 11.0M ▲ 4.8% | Emiratisation Rate: 12.5% ▲ 2.1pp | Global Competitiveness: #7 ▲ 3 places | Clean Energy Capacity: 7.2 GW ▲ 18.4% | ADX Index: 9,842 ▲ 4.7% | DFM Index: 4,621 ▲ 6.2% |

Definition

The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM), known as the Hope Probe (Al-Amal), is the UAE’s first interplanetary mission, designed to orbit Mars and provide a comprehensive picture of the planet’s atmosphere and climate system. The mission’s scientific objective is to study the Martian lower and upper atmosphere, its weather dynamics, and the mechanisms driving the escape of hydrogen and oxygen from the atmosphere into space — data critical to understanding why Mars lost its liquid water billions of years ago.

UAE Context

The Hope Probe was developed by the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai in collaboration with the University of Colorado Boulder, Arizona State University, and the University of California, Berkeley. Announced in 2014, the probe was launched on 19 July 2020 from Tanegashima Space Centre in Japan and successfully entered Mars orbit on 9 February 2021 — coinciding with the UAE’s 50th National Day celebrations. The mission was deliberately structured to build Emirati engineering and scientific capacity: the MBRSC team designed and built the spacecraft with knowledge transfer from US academic partners rather than purchasing an off-the-shelf solution.

Key Data

Hope orbits Mars in an elliptical orbit at altitudes between 20,000 and 43,000 kilometres, providing the first global picture of Martian weather from a synoptic perspective. The mission’s three instruments — Emirates eXploration Imager (EXI), Emirates Mars Infrared Spectrometer (EMIRS), and Emirates Mars Ultraviolet Spectrometer (EMUS) — have generated unprecedented data on dust storms, atmospheric temperature, and the Martian exosphere. The mission was originally planned for one Martian year (approximately two Earth years) but has been extended.

Vision 2031 Significance

The Emirates Mars Mission is the UAE’s most visible demonstration of its scientific ambition and its commitment to building knowledge-economy capabilities. It positions the country among an elite group of spacefaring nations, inspires STEM education and careers among Emirati youth, and establishes the technical foundation for more ambitious space programmes, including a 2028 asteroid belt mission.

  • Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) — The entity that developed and operates the Hope Probe.
  • National Space Programme — The broader UAE strategy encompassing the Mars mission.
  • STEM Education — The human capital development agenda the mission supports.
  • Advanced Sciences — The national priority area the mission advances.