Why Are So Many Missions Going To Mars This Summer?
China, the United Arab Emirates & the United States, 3 missions, 3 countries, same target, same month
Since the beginning of July we have seen China’s mission Tianwen-1 (23rd), UAE’s probe Al-Amal (20th) & USA’s new rover Perseverance (30th), take off from Earth to reach Mars. That many launches in such a short timeframe was never seen before. In the past 15 years, only 8 rockets launched towards Mars and of that, 7 missions were successful.
So why the sudden interest in Mars and why is everyone leaving at the same time?
Mars, the new goal of an international space race
Space exploration is a race, no matter how politically correct it’s presented. Would Neil Armstrong have set foot on Mars if it wasn’t America’s symbol to beat the USSR? Certainly not in 1969 at least.
As of today Mars was only reached by Russia and the USA, the traditional space duo, but now, the space race has extended to more than this pair, and the different launches of this year present perfectly the new international players of space exploration.
After proving themselves on the Moon with the Chang’e missions, China is now reaching for the red planet as a way to firmly establish their place in the international space race. Their new mission Tianwen-1 is the most ambitious and impressive of the 3 that have launched this July (or ever). The plan is for China to have one orbiter, one lander, and one rover on the red planet by 2021. If all three aspects are executed perfectly, Tianwen-1 could catch up on years of Mars dominance by NASA.
On the other hand, the United Arab Emirates’ mission to reach Mars is surprising as the country was never a major player in space exploration. Having never reached the Moon, Al-Amal is their first substantial space mission. If everything works this will be a major success for the small country and a symbol of their important place in the world outside of the oil industry.
A rare timeframe
The reason why so many missions are launched in approximately the same days is that Mars’s launch window happens nearly every two years and a half (26 months or 780 days more specifically).
But, Mars doesn’t disappear so why are we only able to reach it every 26 months?
Because Mars and the Earth have different orbits and move at a different speed, therefore they are not always at the same distance. The farther away they can get is 401 000 000 km and the closest is 60 000 000 km, that’s almost 7 times shorter.
As travelers, we want to use to shortest route possible to save time but most importantly fuel. Fuel is a crucial resource in space missions as we can’t bring more than what’s needed. Why so? First of all because fuel isn’t cheap but most importantly because a rocket has a limited weight to lift or it won’t be able to go through our atmosphere. So, every extra ounce of fuel is an ounce less of material (payload) to bring. This could be less scientific experiments which is why the mission is planned in the first place. This relationship between payload and fuel is a nightmare for space engineers.
It’s a vicious circle, represented mathematically by the Rocket Equation.
If you hate math, remember that the shortest route = less time = less money, and this year from mid-July to mid-August is the new launch window for Mars, which explains why so many missions were launched in the past weeks.
Here’s an interesting NASA activity to understand better the concept of launch windows.
What should we expect from these missions?
All of these missions will reach Mars around February 2021 and they all have different purposes.
Al-Amal will provide us with a deeper understanding of Mars’s meteorology such as climate variations, temperature, pressure, gas movements, and seasons throughout the year. The goal is to better understand the history of the planet such as why it’s losing its atmosphere and how it was in the past.
China’s mission is more focused on studying Mars’s geology and its past evolution such as the loss of water. The rover will allow to research water-ice distribution, soil characteristics, and material composition when the orbiter will focus more on the ionosphere, climate, and magnetic field.
Finally, Perseverance will continue on the steps of Curiosity by completing research on the presence of past life on Mars and its geology with the new goal to bring back samples of soil to Earth thanks to its drilling and collecting system. But what’s most interesting about Perseverance is that its main goal is to prepare Human arrival on the red planet. The main experiment NASA is excited about is MOXIE, a golden box testing the possibility to transform carbon dioxide in oxygen on Mars.
In conclusion, the fact that 3 missions left at the same time proves that international competition is rising. After years of space dominance, NASA might start to have company in outer space and despite the power contest, it will allow deeper and new understanding of our world. This can only get us more excited for what’s to come as it is accelerating space exploration, getting us a bit closer to setting foot on the red planet.
