In July, China, the United Arab Emirates and the United States plan to send missions to Mars. The United Arab Emirates is the first country to take off: The country wants to take off for the Red Planet on Thursday, July 16. China plans to take off from July 20-25, and the first US launch option is slated for July 30.
China and the United States plan to land on Mars. The UAE sends a satellite to the red planet. In fact, the European Space Agency ESA also wanted to send a rover to Mars this month, but that mission had to be postponed for two years. Technical problems in the probe could not be resolved in time for the specified launch date.
July 2020 is the right time to launch Mars, due to the planet’s position relative to Earth. Only once every 26 months do the red and blue planets come together enough that a launch is possible.
If this month’s launch event fails, they will have to wait until 2022. For this reason, the European Space Agency has also postponed the launch of the Rosalind Franklin rover until then.
The Arab “Al-Amal” mission is the first mission to Mars through an Islamic land
The Emirati Mission of Hope is the first interplanetary mission undertaken by an Islamic country. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center, a government institution, has collaborated with two American universities.
With the satellite, the UAE wants to explore the Martian atmosphere, as well as the weather and climate on the celestial body. With this, scientists hope to learn more about how Mars turned into a cold desert as it is today. The UAE also hopes to inspire a new generation of engineers with a trip to Mars.
The UAE does not yet have a launch capability of its own and will use a Japanese missile.
China wants to become a third country on Mars
China sends a satellite and lander with a rover with the Tianwen-1 mission. If the landing craft successfully lands on the red surface of Mars, China would be the third country to “set foot” on the planet. With this, the United States and the Soviet Union follow. Europe also tried to relegate, but without success.
Tianwen-1 will search for traces of life, try to map the surface of the planet, investigate the atmosphere and analyze the surface structure.
The Tianwen probe concept is suspended high above the ground by a cable. In this test, the spacecraft had to hover over the ground and then gently land. (Image: Professional footage)
The United States will search for (traces) of life
If all goes well, NASA will send the rover probe to the red planet on July 30. If July 30th doesn’t work, the organization has until Aug 15th to try it out.
Perseverance, like Tianwen-1, you should look for traces of life or past life on Mars. The craft can conduct a ground search and incorporate Mars soil into “bundles”. These packages must be collected on a later mission and sent to Earth. The vehicle will also measure Mars weather, among other things.
The mission will also take a helicopter with it, with which NASA wants to see if the flying vehicles are suitable for exploring Mars. After all, the rover bears the names of 10.9 million people from all over the world on three slides. People can name themselves during a special promotion, in which 52,347 Dutch people participated.
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