Humans have always been intrigued when they have looked at the sky. The rising and setting of the sun, the moon, the stars, the space always brought many questions into the minds of humans. But, thanks to the advancements in science and technology, specially rocket science, the dream of humans to go in space and have a closer look at the elusive celestial bodies and look at the Earth from above, is no more a dream. The landing on moon on July 20 1969 by Apollo 11 mission was not just a giant leap for mankind but also the commencement of a new age in space exploration. We now started to dare to reach to other planets in solar system. Many probe missions were sent to various planets in our solar system. Out of them, one planet stands out distinctly for more than one reason and that is: our neighbor Mars.
Reasons for exploring Mars
Mars, also known as the red planet, is the fourth planet from the sun. It is bigger than only Mercury in our solar system. It has only 38% of earth’s gravity. 1 year on Mars has 687 days and one day is 40 minutes longer than on earth. It has a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and cannot support life forms. One big reason for exploring Mars is that some scientists believe that the red planet was once capable of hosting ecosystems and there might have been a vast ocean in its Northern hemisphere. They believed that there were evidences of rainstorms, lakes, rivers and carving troughs. Also they were likely wrapped in thick atmosphere capable of maintaining liquid water at Martian temperature and pressure, But it is now dusty and dry. The aim of all Mars exploration missions has been to study this transformation and shift in climate that modified this planet. The objective has been to look into biosignatures, the signs that may reveal whether life ever existed on the planet or not.
Mars missions so far
Since 1960 is humans have sent many space probes to study Mars. The early missions were only flybys where spacecraft would take the pictures of the red planet as they flew by like Mariner 4 of the USA in July 1965. Later some space crafts were put in the orbit around Mars like Mars 3 of the former Soviet Union in 1971. More recently landers and rovers have touched down on the martian surface. The first spacecraft to do so was NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 in 1976. US is the only country to have operated on the planet’s surface, and that too 8 times. Mars Pathfinder mission put the first free moving rover called Sojourner on the planet’s surface. Further, rovers that followed were Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and latest one to reach is Perseverance. Landing on Mars is not easy as it has a thin atmosphere which makes descent challenging. So far, only NASA, Roscosmos, European Space Agency and ISRO have been able to put a spacecraft in the orbit of Mars. The UAE and China may soon join this club when their spacecrafts Hope and Tianwen-1 respectively would reach Mars.
Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover
On 30th July 2020, the US’ Jet Propulsion Laboratory a self driving rover, Perseverance, a twin rotor helicopter called as Ingenuity and an orbiter NAVEN. It should also be noted that on 20th July 2020, UAE launched its Hope Mars Mission from Japan and on 23rd July 2020, China launched Tianwen-1 Mars mission. 3 different space probes in July 2020 were launched because Earth and Mars were closest at this time. Earth is closest to Mars every 26 months and thus missions to Mars are launched at this time as the distance between the two planets is least at this time. On18th February 2021, after a journey of around 7 months, Perseverance rover landed on the red planet’s surface in the targeted area called as Jezero Crater. The reason for choosing this location as the landing site is because it is believed to be an ancient river delta. It’s official mission name is Mars 2020 and will seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and possibly send them to earth. This will be the first Mars mission to be able to do so. The helicopter Ingenuity is also going to be the first helicopter taking flight
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