<strong>UPDATE: this blog is now closed, please join us again for the latest updates closer to the launch time.</strong> The UAE is heading back into space – and this time it is to Mars. Lift off was scheduled for 12.51am UAE time, on July 15, from Japan’s Tanegashima Space Centre but has since been postponed due to poor weather. On Tuesday, the UAE Government said the probe would be launched on Friday, July 17, at 12.43am UAE time. Emirati engineers in Japan have been doing final checks on the probe since April. Once launched, Hope will take seven months to reach the Red Planet, where it will capture images and study Mars. Follow the latest developments here. <strong>More on the UAE in space:</strong>