Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, gave a message today to the people of the UAE and to the Arab and Islamic nations, on the eve of the Hope Probe's Mars arrival.

The speech, broadcast via the official account of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, states: "In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful: My brothers and sisters, the people of the UAE and the people of the Arab and Islamic nations; Assalamu Alaikum Within a few hours, the Hope Probe will arrive at Mars. The biggest challenge for the Probe is to enter Mars orbit, with a 50 percent success rate; though the failure rate is 50 percent, I believe success is within our grasp. But I say, even if we could not enter the orbit, we've already made history. This is the farthest point in the universe to be reached by Arabs throughout their history... More than five million working hours by over 200 Emirati male and female engineers.

Our goal is to give hope to all Arabs that we are capable of competing with the rest of the world.

We pray to Allah the Almighty to grant us success in reaching Mars.