The first in a parade of three new visitors to Mars has arrived after hurtling hundreds of millions of miles through space since last summer.
The UAE mission
On Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates became just the fifth nation to successfully send a spacecraft to Mars when its robotic probe, named Hope, began orbiting the red planet.
It is the first interplanetary mission undertaken by an Arab country.
Once in orbit, the spacecraft can begin its study of the red planet’s atmosphere and weather.
On Tuesday, controllers at the mission operations center in Dubai received word from the spacecraft that it had started firing thrusters to slow itself down and allow it to fall into the thrall of the gravity of Mars. Then, after the 27-minute burn was complete, they confirmed the probe was in orbit.
The mission is to spend at least two years studying how dust storms and other weather conditions near the surface affect the speed at which Martian air is leaking away into outer space.
China’s mission
Today, a Chinese orbiter-rover combo is to also enter orbit around Mars.
China’s duo — called Tianwen-1, or “Quest for Heavenly Truth” — will remain paired in orbit until May, when the rover separates to descend to the dusty, ruddy surface. If all goes well, it will be only the second country to land successfully on the red planet.
China, hasn’t divulged much in advance. Even the spacecraft’s exact arrival time today has yet to be announced. The China Academy of Space Technology’s Ye Peijian noted that Tianwen-1 has three objectives: orbiting the planet, landing and releasing the rover.
China’s first Mars mission, a joint effort with Russia in 2011, never made it past Earth’s orbit.
The U.S. mission
On Thursday next week, NASA’s latest rover, Perseverance, will also arrive at Mars.
The rover will dive in straight away for a harrowing sky-crane touchdown similar to the Curiosity rover’s grand Martian entrance in 2012. The odds are in NASA’s favor: It’s nailed eight of its nine attempted Mars landings.
Perseverance’s $3 billion mission is the first leg in a U.S.-European effort to bring Mars samples to Earth in the next decade.
“To say we’re pumped about it, well that would be a huge understatement,” said Lori Glaze, NASA’s planetary science director.
Another nation’s space plans
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan unveiled an ambitious 10-year space program for his country Tuesday that includes missions to the moon, sending Turkish astronauts into space and developing internationally viable satellite systems.
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