Last summer, three robot explorers started their journey towards the red planet. United Arab Emirate's orbiter is the first one to land on Mars this Tuesday. It will be followed a few hours after by the orbiter-rover combo of China. Lastly, NASA's cosmic caboose will be joining the robots on February 18 and is set to collect rock samples from Mars. NASA's venture is said to contribute to studies of whether life has ever existed on the red planet.
Mars Mission Brings Excitement and Worry at the Same Time
This time, their robots are finally set to launch Mars in a few hours. "We are quite excited as engineers and scientists, at the same time quite stressed and happy, worried, scared," Omran Sharaf, project manager for the UAE said in an interview via York Dispatch.
Prior to the recent fleat, more than half of Earth's emissaries in both UAE and China's missions have not been successful. Moreover, their trip to Mars is theri first venture to the planet, Last 2011, China has partnered with Russia to make its first Mars mission but have not succeeded.
All of the three spacecraft have left the Earth at about just the same time with one another, having only a few days gaps. Thus, their arrivals are also close with each other. The Mars mission occurs every two years only in the quest to find signs of life on the red planet. Although the excitement is apparent as the stakes are high, all have mixed feelings about the ambiguous mission. Nonetheless, it will all be happening anytime soon.
Read more: Nasa's Mars Perseverance Rover Ready to Defy '7 Minutes of Terror', Takes Final Step in 22 Days
Earth-Mars Rovers: Different Techniques, Same Goal
According to Fox 16, UAE's robot spacecraft called Amal which translates to Hope in English is expected to land at a higher orbit which is approximately 13,500 to 27,000 miles high or 22,000 kilometers by 44,000 kilometers with the goal to monitor the weather of planet Mars.
On the other hand, China's candidate, a duo called Tianwen-1 which is called "Quest for Heavenly Truth" in English will be orbiting together until it separates as it lands on the surface of Mars. Hopefully, as China succeeds in its landing, it will be the second country to land on the Martian surface.
Perseverance, which is the U.S and European rover, will be landing just like Curiosity rover did back in 2012. It will land straight from the sky touchdown to the surface. NASA is confident that with its record having successfully completed eight out of nine Mars landings, this one will persevere.
Both the Tianwen-1 and the Perseverance will be searching for signs of possible life existence on Mars. Perseverance intends to bring rock samples to Earth in order to study the ground better.
NASA is targeting an ancient river delta zone in Jezera crater that might be their best bet for a possible life existence. On the other hand, China's Tianwen-1 will be landing on a flat terrain that resembles that of a huge parking lot. UAE is especially proud that it has launched its local-made rover not shipped from abroad. All three of the missions are expecting to land on Mars while making one of the most significant records in human history.
As Lori Glaze, NASA's planetary science director says, "To say we're pumped about it, well that would be a huge understatement."
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Written by Nikki D
