UPDATE - Turkey congratulates UAE on successful Mars mission

ADDS REMARKS BY UAE'S MINISTER OF STATE FOR ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY

By Aysu Bicer and Zehra Nur Duz

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's technology and industry minister congratulated the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Thursday for successfully placing a spacecraft in orbit around Mars.

"The success of the United Arab Emirates Mars Mission, on which they have been investing for a long time, is worthy of appraisal," Mustafa Varank said on Twitter. “Each new discovery in space has the potential of increasing international cooperation, serving the interests of the world peace.”

The mission, called Hope Probe, reached orbit last week on its first attempt. Thus, the UAE became the first Arab country to place a satellite in Mars orbit.

In a statement, the Dubai-based Mohammed bin Resid Space Center said the spacecraft successfully entered orbit and could send healthy signals to the center.

The 1.3-ton observation satellite, which was sent to Mars by the H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center of Japan in July 2020, will work on weather and climate change.

The Hope Probe is tasked with providing the first-ever complete picture of the Martian atmosphere, with three state-of-the-art science instruments designed to study different aspects of the planet's atmosphere.

UAE's Minister of State for Advanced Technology, Sarah al-Amiri thanked Varank for the message and said: “We also believe that space exploration has always been a means to build bridges and advance our collective human understanding.”

“I wish Turkey a successful journey of discovery towards the Moon in 2023, increasing the region's contribution to space exploration,” she added.

Turkey unveiled its national space program on Feb. 9 and outlined the country's 10-year vision, strategies, objectives and projects on space policy.

"The primary and most important mission of the program is to make the first contact with the Moon in our republic's centennial year [2023]," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the introductory meeting in Ankara.

The program was prepared and will be carried out by the Turkey Space Agency (TUA).

The TUA was established by presidential decree in December 2018 that was set out in the first 100-day action plan unveiled after the Justice and Development (AK) Party's election victory in June that year.