http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2021/02/uae-spacecraft-reaches-mars-milestone-arab-nations > Controllers monitor the Hope mission, which arrived at Mars today, from the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. > Hope arrived at Mars today, as the optimistically named mission from the United Arab Emirates (UAE)—the first planetary mission from an Arab nation—blazed into orbit to study the martian atmosphere and climate. If all systems check out after the stresses of orbit insertion, UAE, which founded its space agency only in 2014, will join an elite club of nations that have successfully sent missions to Mars: the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and India.