Once every 26 months, spacecraft from Earth can head to Mars. This year’s encounter is a bonanza of three.
First to arrive Feb. 9 in Mars orbit, was the United Arab Emirates’ “Hope” orbiter. Its mission is to look at Martian weather dynamics using a suite of three different instruments. China’s “Tianwen-1” will follow on Feb. 10. The Chinese have not provided any official time for the spacecraft’s arrival at Mars, but Andrew Jones reports that it will arrive in Mars orbit at approximately 7 a.m. EST. The five-ton spacecraft, which includes an orbiter, lander, and rover, is a daring technology demonstrator. Unlike NASA’s Perseverance craft, which is only a rover and so plunges to the surface when it arrives, the Chinese lander/rover will spend about three months still attached to the orbiter, while photographs are taken of potential landing sites. And NASA’s Perseverance, to arrive on Feb. 18, will add new data to the space agency’s search for the prerequisites for life.
The U.A.E., in addition to making a contribution to the science of Mars, and consciously reaching back in history to the Arab Renaissance, hopes to inspire a generation of Arab youth. Indicative is the minister who leads the U.A.E. space agency—a 34-year-old woman. And in its own terms, theirs is a daring mission for a fledgling space agency,. which some Emirati officials gave only a 50-50 chance of success. But today’s events were sweet!
