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Every 26 Months Minimizes Travel Times and Expense

Three countries are launching spacecraft to Mars during the 2020 planetary alignment window: the United Arab Emirates launched Hope in July to study Mars' atmosphere and weather; China launched Tianwen-1 to orbit and land on Mars; and the United States plans to launch Perseverance in late July. Perseverance is a large rover equipped with instruments to study Mars' climate, test technologies for human survival, collect rock samples for eventual return to Earth, and help determine if Mars was ever inhabited, making it a true life-finding mission. Perseverance's target is Jezero Crater, site of an ancient river delta that could have supported ancient life.

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33 views

Every 26 Months Minimizes Travel Times and Expense

Three countries are launching spacecraft to Mars during the 2020 planetary alignment window: the United Arab Emirates launched Hope in July to study Mars' atmosphere and weather; China launched Tianwen-1 to orbit and land on Mars; and the United States plans to launch Perseverance in late July. Perseverance is a large rover equipped with instruments to study Mars' climate, test technologies for human survival, collect rock samples for eventual return to Earth, and help determine if Mars was ever inhabited, making it a true life-finding mission. Perseverance's target is Jezero Crater, site of an ancient river delta that could have supported ancient life.

Uploaded by

Anurag Rana
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Once every 26 months, Earth and Mars are aligned in a way

that minimizes travel times and expense, enabling spacecraft to make


the interplanetary journey in roughly half a year. Earth’s space agencies
tend to launch probes during these conjunctions, the most recent of
which happens in the summer of 2020. Three countries are sending
spacecraft to Mars during this window: The United Arab Emirates,
which launched its Hope spacecraft on July 20 and will orbit Mars to
study its atmosphere and weather patterns; China, which launched
its Tianwen-1 on July 23, and the United States, currently targeting July
30 for the launch of its Perseverance rover.

Perseverance is a large, six-wheeled rover equipped with a suite of


sophisticated instruments. Its target is Jezero Crater, site of an ancient
river delta, and a likely location for ancient life-forms to have thrived.
Once on the surface, Perseverance will study Martian climate and
weather, test technologies that could help humans survive on Mars, and
collect samples from dozens of rocks that will eventually be brought to
Earth. Among its goals is helping to determine whether Mars was—or is
—inhabited, making it a true life-finding Mars mission.

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