The UAE's first space mission to Mars left the Japanese space station Tanigashima on Monday morning. It will travel about 500 million kilometers in seven months to reach Mars.

The United Arab Emirates has launched its first robotic spacecraft to Mars, called Hope, and is the first such mission by the Arab world. Its purpose is to reach Mars and gather information about its climate and environment.

The satellite is expected to land on Red Planet by February 2021 after a long journey of seven months, orbiting Mars for about two years and providing new information about Mars. Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the UAE's founding as a nation, and the spacecraft's landing on Mars is expected to mark the country's 50th anniversary.

The satellite weighs 1.3 tons and was launched by a H2A rocket at Tanigashima, a remote Japanese space base. This unmanned satellite is equipped with devices capable of studying the surface of Mars and gathering information about its climate and climate change.