Why Mars and Why Now?
In the month of July, there has been a lot happening with Mars and Mars research. In fact, in the last few days, UAE has launched its satellite to Mars, China has launched its rover to Mars, and NASA launched its rover, Perseverance, to Mars. The reason interest has peaked in Mars over the last few years is because of the 2030 plan to bring a person to Mars.
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| Mars |
Mars exploration first occurred back in the 1960s by the Soviets, but the first successful flyby around the plant was done by Mariner 4 in 1965. The satellite to get into the orbit of Mars was Mariner 9, by NASA, in 1971. The Viking landers, from NASA, were the first landers to touchdown on the surface of Mars. Over the years, more and more missions have happened, and we have been able to learn a lot. For example, through multiple satellite missions from multiple nations, we have been able to map Mars, as well as discovering that Mars once had a thicker atmosphere, warmer temperature, and running water.
However, not all Mars missions ended in success. In fact, only 25 of the 55 satellites, landers, or rovers we have sent to Mars have been able to succeed. That's only a 45.5% chance. Granted, in the past years, failures haven’t been as prominent as in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. With technology getting better, we are able to learn more than before about Mars. One such example is the Viking program done by NASA to study Mars.
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| Artists Impression of Viking Lander Being Released to Land on Mars |
Going back to the missions I talked about at the beginning, the UAE launched their first satellite to Mars on July 19, 2020. Its mission is to stay in the Martian orbit for a year and gather information about Mars's atmosphere. The Chinese rover mission is the first time China has launched a rover for Mars. The launch happened today, July 23, 2020. It will stay alive for about 90 sols (90 days on mars) and gather information on the mineralogy. The last launch is the Perseverance rover which launched July 30, 2020. Perseverance has multiple missions it will carry out on Mars, including mineralogy, carbon dioxide to oxygen conversion tests, and it will carry samples. For more information on the Perseverance rover, check out my blog post about Perseverance.
In the end, Mars exploration is very important and amazing. With the exploration of Mars, we have not only learned about what happened to it, by learning about somethings about Earth through the exploration of Mars. With more upcoming Mars missions and even the colonization of Mars, the future is bright.
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| The Future of Exploring Mars |
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