UAE To Be First Islamic Nation To Launch Mars Mission

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is going to be the first Islamic country to launch a Mars mission. The nation wants to send an unmanned spacecraft called HOPE to the Red Planet in 2020.

According to a Khaleej Times report, HOPE will take off from Japan where it will be sent off aboard a Japanese H-IIA rocket model. Incidentally, the rocket is also scheduled to launch UAE's KhalifaSat satellite into the orbit of Earth by 2018. The satellite, which is being created entirely by Emirati engineers, weighs around 50 kilograms.

"We are delighted to launch the UAE's Mars explorer by the Japanese launch vehicle H-IIA from Tanegashima Space Center in Japan in 2020," said Yuichi Yamaura, vice president of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. "We are confident that we will accomplish our responsibility, together with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries."

The HOPE spacecraft will go into orbit around the planet and not be touching down on the surface of Mars. In line with this, UAE aims at becoming the first Arab nation to launch a mission to Mars. It created its space agency in 2014. However, last year, UAE's religious leaders had issued a fatwa that forbade Muslims from landing on the Martian surface.

The country's General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment issued the fatwa because, according to them, going to Mars was akin to embarking on a suicide mission. According to the the religious organization, a one-way journey to Mars is the same as risking life and therefore cannot be justified in Islam.

In addition, there are chances that humans who travel to Mars may not be able to survive there, and thereby are vulnerable to death. The religious edict was issued in response to the Mars One mission, which wants to send humans on a one-way trip to the Red Planet.