Sarah Al-Amiri
The Woman Who Guided the Arab World to Mars
Born Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri in 1987 in the United Arab Emirates, Sarah Al-Amiri was science lead of the Emirates Mars Mission, whose Hope probe made the UAE the first Arab nation to reach Mars in 2021, and has served as the country's Minister of Education since July 2024.
- 17 min listen
- Hope Mars mission
- UAE minister
- Computer engineer
Sarah Al-Amiri’s full 17 min audio biography, The Woman Who Guided the Arab World to Mars, is available on Lyfestori for iOS. Listen to a free preview below.
A life in brief
Sarah Al-Amiri: life and timeline.
At twelve Sarah Al-Amiri saw a photograph of the Andromeda Galaxy and couldn't stop thinking about its scale, but the UAE had no space programme to dream of. She studied computer engineering instead, and the first job she applied for after graduating happened to be at the institution building the country's first satellites. She wrote code for DubaiSat-1. In February 2021 she was science lead of Hope, the Arab world's first mission to another planet, when it slipped into orbit around Mars.
- 1987
Born in the UAE
Born into a country only sixteen years old, she grows up in Abu Dhabi, attends an international school and starts tinkering with computers at about eleven.
- 2009
Joining EIAST
After studying computer engineering at the American University of Sharjah, she joins the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology. She works on the operations and control software for DubaiSat-1, which launches that July.
- 2013
DubaiSat-2
She works on the UAE's second Earth observation satellite and moves into research and development leadership, while completing a master's degree at the American University of Sharjah.
- 2014
A mission to Mars
The UAE announces it will send a probe to Mars to arrive in 2021, the country's fiftieth anniversary. She becomes deputy project manager and science lead of what becomes the Hope mission.
- 2017
Minister of State
In October she is appointed Minister of State for Advanced Sciences. In November she becomes the first Emirati to speak at a global TED event, on the Hope mission.
- 2020
Launch from Japan
After pandemic quarantines and weather delays, Hope lifts off from Tanegashima on 20 July. In August she becomes chair of the UAE Space Agency, and in November the BBC names her one of its 100 Women.
- 2021
Mars orbit
On 9 February Hope fires its thrusters for twenty-seven minutes and enters orbit at the first attempt, making the UAE the fifth entity to reach Mars orbit and the first Arab nation.
- 2022
Public education
She becomes Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology and chair of the Emirates Schools Establishment, which runs the country's public schools.
- 2023
Close to Deimos
Hope makes a series of close flybys of the Martian moon Deimos. Its readings support the theory that Deimos came from Mars itself rather than being a captured asteroid.
- 2024
Minister of Education
On 14 July she is appointed the UAE's Minister of Education, completing her move from space science to running national education policy.
Major achievements
Sarah Al-Amiri: major achievements.
- 01
Science lead for Hope
She led the science of the first mission to study the Martian atmosphere across a full day and through every season — temperature, dust, ice and the escape of hydrogen and oxygen — with the data released freely to researchers worldwide.
- 02
Mars at the first attempt
Hope's orbit insertion in February 2021 made the UAE the first Arab nation and the fifth space agency or nation to reach Mars orbit.
- 03
Knowledge transfer, not outsourcing
Emirati engineers built the spacecraft alongside partners at the University of Colorado Boulder, Arizona State University and UC Berkeley, so the country could do it again on its own.
- 04
Running the UAE Space Agency
She chaired the agency from 2020 to 2024 and championed later projects, including a planned mission to the asteroid belt.
- 05
Recognition
She was one of the World Economic Forum's 50 Young Scientists in 2015, on the BBC's 100 Women list in 2020 and on the TIME100 Next list in 2021.
Turning points
Sarah Al-Amiri: defining moments.
- Age twelve
Andromeda
A photograph of a galaxy two and a half million light-years away showed her something larger than anything she had imagined. In the UAE of the 1990s, space was a fascination, not a career, so she set the dream aside for computers.
- 2008–2009
The first application
The first job she applied for after graduating was at a small institution that needed computer engineers. Without realising it, she had walked into the start of the UAE's space programme.
- 2014
Seven years to Mars
The government set a near-impossible deadline: a Mars orbiter built from scratch to arrive for the nation's fiftieth anniversary, by a young team with no interplanetary experience. Al-Amiri became its science lead.
- 2020
Launching through a pandemic
COVID-19 hit in the mission's final year. Engineers quarantined in Japan, the spacecraft was flown to Tanegashima, and storms pushed the launch back twice before it finally lifted off on 20 July.
What you’ll take away
Lessons from Sarah Al-Amiri’s life.
- 01
Build the people, not just the machine
Hope's value was a spacecraft at Mars and also a generation of Emirati engineers who now know how to build another.
- 02
Take the door that opens
She never planned a space career. She took the first job that fit her skills, and it led to Mars.
- 03
Share the data
Making Hope's results freely available turned a national project into a resource for scientists everywhere.
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FAQ
Frequently asked questions about Sarah Al-Amiri.
Who is Sarah Al-Amiri?
An Emirati engineer and government minister. She was science lead of the Hope probe, the UAE's mission to Mars, and has been the UAE's Minister of Education since July 2024.
When was Sarah Al-Amiri born?
In 1987. Her exact date of birth has not been published. She was in her early thirties when Hope reached Mars in 2021.
Where is Sarah Al-Amiri from?
The United Arab Emirates. She grew up in Abu Dhabi, in a country founded only sixteen years before she was born.
What did Sarah Al-Amiri study?
Computer engineering at the American University of Sharjah, where she earned bachelor's and master's degrees. She completed the master's while working on the UAE's satellite programme.
What did Sarah Al-Amiri do for the Hope mission?
She was deputy project manager and science lead of the Emirates Mars Mission. She shaped its goal of studying the Martian atmosphere and worked with partner universities in the US.
What are Sarah Al-Amiri's achievements?
Leading the science of the first Arab mission to Mars, chairing the UAE Space Agency from 2020 to 2024, and serving as a minister since 2017. She has been named to the BBC's 100 Women and the TIME100 Next lists.
Is Sarah Al-Amiri the UAE's Minister of Education?
Yes. She was appointed Minister of Education on 14 July 2024 and still held the post as of October 2026. Before that she was Minister of State for Public Education and Advanced Technology.
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17 min · one sitting