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Red Rover Red Rover and a Sat looking over
Here are the three missions to Mars that are happening this month:
On July 30, NASA is sending Curiosity a new friend: their fifth Mars rover since the start of the program, called Perseverance.
Perseverance’s main mission is to look for signs of past life on Mars by studying the geology and taking rock and soil samples to be analyzed on Earth later.
[...] Like the Americans, China is landing a rover on Mars this summer, called Tianwen-1, according to a press release from the China National Space Administration.
Although not many details of the mission have been released, the rover is set to launch sometime in July, and is China’s first Mars exploration mission.
The United Arab Emirates are not landing a rover on the planet, but are instead launching a mission to orbit Mars and observe from space.
[...] The mission is aiming to understand the climate dynamics of Mars, the structure of Mars’ atmosphere and why hydrogen and oxygen are escaping from the upper atmosphere into space.
[...] Although these three missions are being operated by different countries, and have different goals, they all serve as important stepping stones towards the ultimate quest: achieving a human expedition to Mars by the end of the century.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Friday July 10 2020, @04:14PM (1 child)
Since the launch window for a Mars trip is well known and predictable; if Perseverance misses the launch window it will be due to inadequate planning for minor problem delays. Such as due to a crane.
OTOH, rushing the development of a high tech robot is one of several ways to cause mission failure once an on-time launch delivers its payload to Mars.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday July 10 2020, @04:55PM
Well, at least they aren't calling it the "Mars 2020 rover".
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