Space exploration isn't something you often associate with the United Arab Emirates. But now the gulf nation has its sights set on Mars. The UAE is planning to launch a probe called Hope, destined for the planet. And as Jacob Greaves reports, it's just one of numerous attempts to boost the footprint of Emirati's in space.

This is the probe the UAE Hope will bring Mars into its orbit. Emirati engineers have been working alongside specialists from the University of Colorado. All to build what's being dubbed the Arab world's first mission to the Red planet.

OMRAN SHARAF, PROJECT MANAGER UAE ASTRONAUT PROGRAMME "The main purpose of the Mars mission is to study the Martian atmosphere, the relationship between the upper layer and the lower layer of the Martian atmosphere. It's going to be the first time that the scientific community are going to be able to get a holistic view of Mars' atmosphere at different times of the day, at different seasons."

Right now, at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space centre on the outskirts of Dubai, engineers have been putting a model through its paces. This is what's known as a flat-sat, a mock-up of the electrical components of the Mars Hope probe. Here specialists get up to speed with its workings.

JACOB GREAVES DUBAI "Although the probe's 85% complete, bringing all the components together is still time sensitive, the launch is scheduled for next summer, in a limited window that only occurs once every two years when earth is at its closest point to Mars."

But Mars is not the United Arab Emirates final frontier. In 2018 the first Emirati-made satellite launched from Japan. And later this year the first astronaut from the Emirates will briefly set foot on the International Space Station. So why is the UAE increasingly interested in the space race.

SALEM ALMARRI, HEAD UAE ASTRONAUT PROGRAMME "If you look at space it's one of the most advanced fields, it is something that you can say even ten or fifteen years ago, people in the region thought that's something that they can't strive for, they can't really be part of, but today we are creating very high tech jobs for people that are coming from our university sector. So I think that's our number one objective, that we have very smart high powered Emiratis working in very high-tech jobs."

Of course, a space programme also brings status. And whilst the likes of the US, Russia's, China's and India's might seem like another world away. The UAE is still reaching for the stars, and another stay on the ISS.

SALEM ALMARRI, HEAD UAE ASTRONAUT PROGRAMME "So I think a success criteria for us is a second flight in the next five years and I think that flight should be a longer duration flight, so I think in the next ten years we look to contribute to what's happening on sending humans to the moon and humans to Mars."

There's also been setbacks. In July a reconnaissance satellite lost contact shortly after take-off. Reaching Mars poses greater challenges, even here they note around a half of all missions to Mars fail. But success might sprinkle some stardust on the UAE's space ambitions. JG, CGTN, Dubai.