Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. launched Monday morning a rocket carrying a Mars orbiter developed by the United Arab Emirates.

The H2A rocket carrying the Hope explorer lifted off at 6:58 a.m. from Tanegashima Space Center in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan.

The Hope explorer, developed at Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, is expected to reach orbit around Mars in 2021 to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the UAE. It will be the first interplanetary mission by a Middle Eastern country.

The liftoff of the Mars orbiter was initially scheduled for Wednesday but postponed due to bad weather at the launch site.

Project manager Omran Sharaf said in an online press conference on July 13 that the probe is a strategic attempt to boost the development of the country's space sector, investing in resources that may lead to a new economy in the future.

He also expressed gratitude for Japan's support of the project amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The explorer, measuring 2.9 meters in length and 2.37 meters in width and weighing 1.5 tons, will research the temperature and moisture of the Martian atmosphere to study changes in the climate of the red planet over a long period.

==Kyodo

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