Hope, UAE's Mars Mission, Has Its Eye On Bonus Science

File Photo: Launch of Hope Mars Mission. Image Credit: Emirates Mars Mission Website.

The United Arab Emirates' first Mars mission is going so smoothly that it will tackle some bonus observations before it reaches its destination, mission leaders have announced. One of those extra observations will see the spacecraft collaborate with BepiColombo, a European-Japanese mission to Mercury.

In a careful manner, the two probes will turn to point at each other, and both spacecraft will measure the amount of hydrogen in the stretch of space between them. Hope's key science goals is to measure a special type of hydrogen that is slipping away from the Martian atmosphere.