Picture used for illustrative purpose only.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Hope Probe’s successful arrival to Mars’ orbit garnered international media coverage, with #ArabsToMars topping trends with 2.7 billion engagements around the world.

The global press coverage mirrored the buzzing social media conversations that reached over 56,000 tweets and comments.

The mission garnered over 12,000 media reports, of which 75 per cent constituted regional and global outlets and 25 per cent was dominated by the local media.

The historic mission marked the Arab world’s entry to the global space race and placed the UAE as the first Arab nation, and the fifth in the world, to reach Mars.

Major news outlets including the CNN, BBC, Euronews, France24, Reuters, AFP, AP, New York Times, The Guardian, Washington Post, The Observer and The Independent diligently followed the historic event.

The Emirates Mars Mission was also featured in science publications and websites including New Scientist, phys.org and CNET.

On the probe’s arrival day on Feb. 9, 2021, the UAE Government Media Office organised an event at Burj Park in Dubai that followed the Hope Probe’s arrival live in the presence of 221 journalists from 131 media outlets.

Burj Khalifa beamed with lights and astonishing shows that marked the different stages of the Hope Probe’s journey, leading up to the historic announcement of its success in reaching the Red Planet’s orbit.

The next day, the UAE Government Media Office held a press conference in the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre to update journalists on the upcoming stages of the probe’s scientific mission.

Six regional and international webinars were held prior the arrival of the probe to Mars to exchange knowledge among space scientists and experts.

Experts from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, UAE and Jordan joined the discussions that shared the UAE experience throughout the journey of the Hope probe and tackle new space technologies.

Three international webinars were held with US-UAE business council, Emirates Society (UK) alongside the Science Museum in London, and a webinar by Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP).