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.
Related Stories
Mars-bound spaceship experiencing technical issues: NASA:
Mars 2020, the spaceship carrying NASA's new rover Perseverance to the Red Planet, is experiencing technical difficulties and is running on essential systems only, the agency said Thursday.
"Data indicate the spacecraft had entered a state known as safe mode, likely because a part of the spacecraft was a little colder than expected while Mars 2020 was in Earth's shadow," NASA said.
The spaceship has left Earth's shadow and the temperatures are now normal.
[...] Matt Wallace, the mission's deputy project manager, said that the fact that the spaceship had entered safe mode was not overly concerning.
"That's perfectly fine, the spacecraft is happy there," he said. "The team is working through that telemetry, they're going to look through the rest of the spacecraft health. "So far, everything I've seen looks good, so we'll know more in a little bit."
Related:
Perseverance, Ingenuity begin seven month journey to Mars
Atlas 5 launches Mars 2020 mission
Previously:
Mars 2020 Rover to Include a Mars Helicopter
Mars Helicopter Enters Final Testing
Mars Mission Readies Tiny Chopper for Red Planet Flight
NASA Reveals the New Wavy Martian Wheels it Thinks Can Crush the Red Planet
Three Missions to Mars Happening this Month
NASA's Perseverance, China's Tianwen-1 and UAE's Hope arrive at Mars this month
Seems like the solar system is getting smaller all the time. Three nations are having Mars missions land (hopefully) this month, something that has never happened before. Detail at C|Net, and elsewhere.
July 2020 was a huge month for Mars. Taking advantage of its nearby position in orbit, three missions departed the Earth on a seven-month journey to the red planet. Now those spacecraft -- NASA's Perseverance rover, the Chinese space agency's Tianwen-1 and the United Arab Emirates' Hope -- are arriving at their destination. They're poised to uncover the secrets our celestial neighbor hides within its atmosphere and barren plains and may even reveal relics of ancient life on the planet's surface.
Although all three spacecraft will make it to orbit around Mars this month, NASA's Perseverance (or "Percy") gets to take center stage. It will be the only mission to land on the surface this month, with an expected arrival date of Feb. 18. Perseverance builds on an impressive history of interplanetary exploration, with its sibling rover Curiosity coming up on nine years on Mars, delivering breathtaking photographs and some puzzling data.
That's not to take anything away from the UAE's Hope, or Al Amal, and China's Tianwen-1. Both spacecraft are expected to perform Mars orbital insertion, or MOI, maneuvers within a day of each other on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, respectively. Hope will remain in orbit and analyze the Martian atmosphere, but Tianwen-1 will attempt something only achieved by two other nations: landing on Mars' unfriendly surface. China is expected to release Tianwen-1's lander and rover duo sometime in May.
Here's a recap of the journey to Mars and what we can expect this month.
Previously:
China's Tianwen-1 Mars Probe Delivers its First Haunting Look at the Planet
Three Missions to Mars Happening this Month
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @08:37AM
LASER TAG!
(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".
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 10 2020, @08:56PM (1 child)
Turn in your geek badge
https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/30/heres-what-nasas-mars-helicopter-will-look-like-when-it-makes-history-with-the-first-extraterrestrial-powered-flight/ [techcrunch.com]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday July 11 2020, @01:20AM
That's part of Mars 2020/Perseverance. It detaches from the rover.
Dragonfly [wikipedia.org] will be much cooler, if we live to see it.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]