It's been a year since the United Arab Emirates' first interplanetary spacecraft went into orbit around Mars, making history.

The Emirates Mars Mission, also known as Hope, was launched in July 2020, arrived on Mars seven months later, and successfully orbited the planet on February 9, 2021. The mission's science observations, which are focused on Mars' atmosphere and temperature, began after a few months in orbit.

"We're just really glad to see the progress from the mission," Hessa Al Matroushi, science lead for the mission, told a virtual meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group, a NASA advisory group, on Feb. 3. "We're very excited about the science that we're getting from this mission."

In fact, data obtained even before the spacecraft began its formal science observation program was one of the mission's early results. Hope's measurements revealed that the planet's night side is experiencing an enigmatic phenomena known as the distinct aurora.

The primary mission of Hope is to spend a year on Mars (687 Earth days). This is crucial because mission scientists want to know how the weather and climate work in different parts of the world at different times of day and year. The team has been investigating water cloud structures that appear to expand at the start and end of the day and recede in the middle of the day, according to Al Matroushi.

The spacecraft is also intended to assist scientists in gaining a better understanding of how Mars' atmosphere's many layers interact.

According to Al Matroushi, the mission publishes new data every three months, with the next batch due out in April.

The UAE's first mission beyond Earth's orbit, Hope, was launched in December 2021 to commemorate the country's 50th anniversary. With the arrival of the spacecraft, the UAE became the fifth country to successfully visit the Red Planet, joining NASA, the Soviet Union, the European Space Agency, and India; China's Tianwen-1 mission arrived just one day after the UAE's.

After Hope, the UAE has also announced a successor to the project, an unnamed expedition to the asteroid belt that it thinks would help with both science and exploration. With new engineering challenges and a greater focus on utilizing UAE industry, the mission will draw directly on the design of the Martian orbiter.

The spacecraft is just about halfway through its primary mission at the first anniversary of Hope's arrival, and the crew is hopeful that the probe will be able to do a lot more science in the future.

"Our main science period ends next year, in April," Al Matroushi said. "We're currently planning for a proposal for the extended mission."