Science
Three space missions heading to Mars, from NASA, China and UAE – ABC News
Three new spacecraft are launching to Mars this month and each of them will test new technologies in the race to reach the Red Planet next year, on a quest to find evidence of past life. We explain the missions and why July is the month to travel.
July is a big month for missions to Mars.
Three new spacecraft from NASA, China and the United Arab Emirates are due to lift off on their journey to the Red Planet.
That’s because there is window between mid-July and mid-August when Earth and Mars are in a good position relative to each other to allow the shortest possible trip.
If the mission launches go as planned, the first of which is due this week, the spacecraft will arrive early next year.
They will join a slew of other orbiters, landers and rovers that are already probing the planet.
And each is tasked to look at questions that no other spacecraft has answered before as the race to find evidence of past life on Mars heats up.
The entry of China and the UAE into Mars exploration, a field that has so far been dominated by the US and Russia, will benefit future missions to the Red Planet, said Alice Gorman, a space archaeologist at Flinders University.
“The more nations entering
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