Mars launch window opens, signifies start of three missions to red planet – Esperance Express

A launch window for space agencies to head to Mars only opens up every few years. The next is fast approaching, with three different countries planning to take advantage of the window.
Sadly Australia is not one of them but the QVMAG’s Launceston Planetarium astronomer Martin George said the upcoming missions were still important.
He said the missions from the United Arab Emirates, NASA and China, aimed to learn more about the red planet.
“It is only about once every 26 months that a launch ‘window’ lasting a few weeks allows craft to be launched to the red planet,” Dr George said.
“This is because the positions of Earth and Mars in their orbits around the Sun need to be just right. Every couple of years, we have this great opportunity.
“Gathering more information about why the martian climate has changed so much over Mars’ history is so important to understanding processes on planets in general, even our own.”
All of the missions are expected to reach the planet by early 2021.
The United Arab Emirates’ mission, named Hope, will be the first to launch from Tanegashima, Japan early on Wednesday morning.
The mission is the country’s first to Mars and it will orbit the planet and study its weather and climate.
The next is thought to be China’s Tianwen-1 mission, its exact launch date is unknown but is thought to be in July.
This mission will also be the country’s first to the red planet when it launches from Wenchang, China.
It’s thought to be an ambitious mission for its first attempt in hoping to conduct orbit and surface experiments. A probe will orbit Mars and a lander and rover will conduct experiments on the planet’s surface.
The final will be from NASA, between July 30 and August 15, launching its rover named Perseverance from Florida in the United States.
For at least one Mars years, about 687 Earth days, it will conduct experiments and carry the first powered flight machine sent to another planet, a small helicopter called Ingenuity.
Dr George said he was most excited by the helicopter.
“That martian helicopter is really the ‘wow!’ part for me,” he said.
“I can’t wait to see pictures of its flights.”
Of the lander or rover missions to Mars, only 10 have been successful so far.
At the moment Mars is visible, low in the east, by midnight and will rise earlier each night as the weeks and months go by.

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