Login With Google
Mars Missions
Why is it in news?
- The UAE launched the Arab world’s first mission to Mars with the spacecraft Amal (Hope).
Details:
- It is UAE’s first of three missions to Mars by July end.
- Why July end is good for launch?
(1) Earth and Mars will be aligned at their closest points in two years in July end.
(2) It means requirement of less fuel to reach planet.
(3) If a spacecraft is launched too early or too late, it will arrive in the planet’s orbit when the planet is not there.
- Mars Missions:
(1)NASA’s Perseverance
(a) It will study habitable conditions on Mars and microbial life in its ancient past.
(b) Over its mission duration of one Martian year (687 Earth days), it will collect Martian rock and sediment samples for analysis on Earth.
(c) Perseverance is expected to reach on Mars on February 18, 2021.
(d) NASA’s Curiosity rover has been exploring Mars since 2012. It remains active although its targeted mission life is over.
(2) UAE’s Hope:
(a) It will collect data on Martian climate dynamics.
(b) It will help scientists to understand why Mars’s atmosphere is decaying into space.
(c) Hope is scheduled to reach Mars’s orbit Mars in February 2021.
(3) China’s Tianwen-1:
(a) It aims to study Martian topography and geology and determine the composition of the surface material, climate and environment.
(b) The orbiter is expected to reach the planet by early 2021.