All About Mars: 3 Red Planet Probes Scheduled For the Next 2 Weeks
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All AboutMArs: 3 Probes by Mark Sumner
Once every couple of years, Mars and Earth get into a position where probes launched from planet #3 can get to planet #4 with a minimum of time and energy. The last time that happened, in 2020, three different probes from three different nations all lined up to take advantage of the relatively rapid transit times. Though the departure dates weren’t quite so close together, all three are about to make their arrival within just an eleven-day window.
On Feb. 9, the “Hope” probe from the United Arab Emirates—not the first nation that comes to mind when you think of interplanetary space travel—will enter orbit. Just one day later on Feb. 10, China’s Tianwen-1 mission arrives. That mission includes both an orbiter and a lander, though the lander isn’t set to touch down until May. Finally, NASA’s latest rover, Perseverance heads for red soil on Feb. 18 using NASA’s incredible “Sky Crane” landing system.
And as all this Mars not-so-madness is going on, there’s a lot more happening back on Earth that could determine where NASA goes in the next few years. That includes a new test of the massive SLS system that is supposed to take astronauts back to the moon.
NASA’s Perseverance headed for Mars last July 30 on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V. It was the last of the three 2020 Mars probes to depart, and it’s going to be the last to arrive. But its landing and the sheer amount of video and other data it should send back will definitely make its arrival the most exciting.
When it comes to Perseverance, it’s difficult to do better at explaining the details of this mission than “Everyday Astronaut” Tim Dodd did in this video. Tim does a terrific job of explaining what NASA wants to accomplish with this mission, how it differs from the Curiosity Rover that landed in 2012, and if you have forgotten just how terrifying NASA’s current landing system is for these large probes, be sure to take a look. The “sky crane” system appears utterly unbelievable, but it has already worked once. Fingers crossed in just a few days, it will work again. Oh, and Perseverance is bringing along with it the Mars helicopter—a little drone that will, hopefully, be able to fly about in the world’s thin atmosphere and provide some fresh angles on the landing zone.
As a bonus, this time around Perseverance is carrying new cameras that will allow it to record most of what happens during the “seven minutes of terror” involved in the complex landing. But getting those pictures back will only happen if the terror ends happily.
If you watch nothing else, take a look at this landing system. For any engineer, this puts the terror in terrifying. If you wonder why they do it this way, here’s a quick rundown. First, Mars’ atmosphere is too thin for a parachute of any practical size to slow such a heavy lander down to a reasonable speed. So it takes rockets to really put on the brakes. But Mars’ surface is scattered with rocks and sand that could be whipped up by rockets so that they damage the lander. Solution — keep the rockets in the air and hang the lander from the ropes. Seriously.
In case you missed it: Why Trump’s Plans To Explore Outer Space Could Have Dangerous Consequences for Earth
Reprinted with permission of Daily Kos.
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I remember when my school hired in a television so that we could all assemble in the hall and watch Neil Armstrong do his thing. I thought that by now we would have cities on Mars and be able to go there for a holiday. With all the sand it should be similar to Dubai and perhaps this is the reason for the Emirates interest.
I had always thought that the Mars Rover was about the same size as an average family dog. If anybody else also thought so I was wrong. It is about the size of a Hummer.
Good luck to everybody involved.
More than just what we can learn about that planet and solar system evolution, the technology alone is likely to benefit the world enormously. Our first space program has made the modern world possible, especially in terms of electronics and computer systems. Economically the space program and related R&D has payed back that investment dramatically. It has benefitted those alive today far more, in my opinion, than any of the liberal demands that we invest directly in hospitals, welfare and even schools. The “Whitey’s on the Moon” cynicism seems so massively narrow minded I won’t bother to comment.
Seriously, we are going to Mars. Why? Maybe we can send our dissidents to a penal colony on another planet.
I fully support the exploration of outer space, and I think we certainly should visit Mars. Why? Because we can. Despite probes, there is a lot we don’t know about the Red Planet, and the sooner we find out the better off we are.
Mike, I don’t disagree, except for the fact that we humans have royally fucked up this one. Maybe another planet or two is just what we need. If there really are alien beings they may object to us bringing our clusterfuck into the universe and blow us back to the beginning with a message to start over.
To make sure Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury and HG Wells and so many others, I cannot name, got it right so many years ago??? Oh, that’s NOT what we are doing. Ok then I think this was one of Mango Mussolini’s pet projects so he looked like he was investing in space exploration.