CRI听力:UAE to Send Unmanned Probe to Mars in 2020

Sheikh Mohammed, Vice President and Prime Minister of UAE, says the mission will provide inspiration to Arabic countries facing conflicts.

"This mission to Mars is really for the hope of the Arab world and sending them a message to say you can be better. You can improve your country. You can reach where you want."

Sarah Amiri, lead engineer on the project, says the main scientific mission is to collect data on Mars' climate and atmosphere.

"Our project also aims towards sending a probe there, that is actually very significant to the science community. It provides the first holistic picture of the Martian atmosphere with all of the dynamics and all of the layers that happen over there. It also studies the rates of hydrogen and oxygen escape and the reasons for that into space. This is a significant contribution and this is the first time that such data is available to the wider science community and the wider Mars community."

Omran Sharaf, project manager, says the biggest challenge will be the mission's short duration.

"One of the biggest challenges that we have in our mission is the time. We have only six years. Other countries usually develop such machines in much longer time frames, 10 to 12 years. But in our case, six years."

The probe is expected to arrive by 2021 to coincide with the UAE's 50th anniversary.

Nearly 100 scientists attended the event and will be working on the project.

But officials have not said how much it will cost.

For CRI, I'm Tu Yun.