State-owned Masdar Institute of Science and Technology is ramping up its efforts to support the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in achieving its goal of sending an unmanned space probe to Mars by 2021, a media report said.

The initiative for the UAE’s Mars mission, named “Hope”, the first in the Arab world, was launched in October.

Masdar Institute is also a member of the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre’s science and research team, which is one of the seven teams of UAE national scientists that have been established to cover all aspects of the Mars mission.

The institute is also tasked with planning science objectives, implementing data gathering resources to meet objectives and complete analysis of incoming scientific data from the mission.

“Masdar Institute is committed to supporting the UAE’s space ambitions and needs. The team we have set up is tasked with ensuring that Masdar Institute is able to support the UAE’s Mars Mission to the fullest, capitalising on the diverse and high-value expertise of our faculty, our programs, our students and our research infrastructure,” Mohamed Sassi, Interim Dean of Faculty and Professor of Mechanical and Materials Science at Masdar Institute, said.

The UAE government has already invested $5.4 billion in space technologies, and about 150 Emirati scientists and engineers will participate in the mission.