This month is all about Mars. Three spacecraft launched seven months ago will reach the red planet in a few days.
July 2020 was a significant month for Mars exploration. The planet was in a nearby orbit position, which made it the perfect moment for three missions to depart Earth on a seven-month trip to it.
The three spacecraft: NASA’s Perseverance rover, the Chinese space agency’s Tianwen-1, and the United Arab Emirates’ Hope are nearing their destinations. They are set to reveal the secrets Mars hides within its atmosphere and barren plains, and scientists hope that the research will lead to the recovery of relics of ancient life on the red planet.
Though all spacecraft will reach Mars’ orbit this month, NASA‘s Perseverance (also known as “Percy”) will take center stage. It will be the sole mission to land on the planet this month, and it’s expected that it will take place on February 18.
Perseverance is the result of a vast history of interplanetary exploration, with its related rover, Curiosity, reaching the respectable age of nine years on Mars, still going strong and delivering impressive photos and mind breaking data.
Still, UAE’s HOPE, or Al Amal, and Tianwen-1 are expected to reach orbital insertion maneuvers within a day of each other on February 9 and February 10.
Hope will spend some time in orbit to study Mars’ atmosphere, and Tianwen-1 will attempt landing on Mars’ surface. China is expected to release the spacecraft’s integrated lander and rover sometime in May.
The three expeditions may gift us with excellent new information about Mars. Scientists hope that the rovers will find new traces of water.
Until then, stay tuned to learn all that’s new!
