{"id":2891,"date":"2021-02-08T10:20:15","date_gmt":"2021-02-08T10:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thenextweb.com\/?p=1337980"},"modified":"2021-02-08T10:20:15","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T10:20:15","slug":"china-and-uae-are-headed-to-mars-heres-what-they-hope-to-discover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.londonchiropracter.com\/?p=2891","title":{"rendered":"China and UAE are headed to Mars \u2014 here\u2019s what they hope to discover"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

How times have changed since the Apollo era. Within the space of a few days, two space missions from China and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), respectively, are set to reach Mars. The UAE\u2019s Hope mission<\/a> will go into orbit around Mars on February 9. The next day, the Chinese Tianwen-1 mission<\/a> \u2013 an orbiter and lander\u2013 will swing into orbit, with a predicted landing date sometime in May.<\/p>\n

It is a very big moment for both countries. Hope is the first interplanetary mission by an Arab nation ever. And if China succeeds, it will be the first country ever to visit and land on Mars on its first try. The odds are stacked against them with nearly 50% of all Mars missions failing<\/a>. China already lost a Mars orbiter mission (Yinghuo-1)<\/a> back in 2011.<\/p>\n

But before the missions can start doing science, tense moments await. As they arrive at the planet, they need to trigger a burn of their engines just at the right time to slow the probes down, so they can be captured by Mars\u2019 gravitational field. Given the large distance from Earth, this needs to be carried out automatically by the probe.<\/p>\n

Tianwen-1<\/h2>\n

If all goes well, the orbiter Tianwen, which means \u201cQuestions to Heaven\u201d<\/a> and the yet unnamed rover will attempt to measure Mars\u2019s climate and \u201cionosphere<\/a>,\u201d a layer of electrically charged particles surrounding the planet. This work might help to understand how Mars is losing its atmosphere<\/a>. But it will also support future crewed missions to Mars by exploring its surface and mapping<\/a> its shape, geology, and internal structure.<\/p>\n

The orbiter is packed with cameras, a magnetometer (used to measure magnetic fields), and various particle analyzers. It will also act as a relay station to stay in communication with the rover. The rover, the size of a small car, is just a little smaller than the NASA Perseverance rover<\/a>, which is also approaching Mars. It flouts a similar look, with a six-wheel drive, large solar panels, and a pole with cameras attached. The latter will be able to identify surface compositions at a distance of between two meters and five meters.<\/p>\n

What makes this mission even more fascinating is that the rover contains a ground-penetrating radar. During the rover\u2019s estimated lifespan of 90 Martian days \u2013 a Martian day being nearly 38 minutes longer than ours \u2013 it can explore the sub-surface structure and search for water deposits below the ground. Evidence of underground saltwater lakes was found<\/a> using radar in 2018 by the European<\/a> Mars Express Orbiter<\/a>, but never followed up with measurements from the surface.<\/p>\n

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The rover will not visit these specific sites but could find similar conditions at the proposed landing site, which we know used to be covered by mudflats. There\u2019s huge interest in such deposits as they represent a resource for future astronauts on the planet. We also can\u2019t rule out the possibility that the lakes could host some form of life<\/a>.<\/p>\n

China has already used the radar technology with great success on its recent Yutu-2 rover to identify separate unique layers of water ice<\/a> up to 40m below the surface on the Moon.<\/p>\n

The Chinese National Space Administration stated that the rover will land<\/a> in the region known as Utopia Planitia, the largest known impact basin in the solar system. In the first three months, the orbiter will survey and identify the precise location.<\/p>\n

Curiously, a press release from after the successful launch of the mission initially indicated the intended coordinates within Utopia Planitia<\/a> (110.318 degrees east longitude and 24.748 degrees north latitude), but these were swiftly removed, possibly to ensure this does not contradict a later slight alteration \u2013 or with political motivation. Speaking to Space.com<\/a>, Alfred McEwen<\/a>, director of the Planetary Image Research Laboratory at the University of Arizona, said the intended landing area is safe and scientifically very interesting.<\/p>\n

China\u2019s first Mars rover will need to go through the so-called seven minutes of terror<\/a>: the automated descent of any lander through the Martian atmosphere to successfully decelerate and land in one piece, all without any active communication with an orbiter or ground control. To achieve this, it will do an initial deceleration using a \u201cconical aeroshell,\u201d which is a protective shield that causes aerodynamic drag (resistance) but will heat up immensely, followed by a parachute and then the firing of retrorockets to allow a soft touch down.<\/p>\n

Hopeful UAE<\/h2>\n

The Hope mission is the UAE\u2019s first-ever interplanetary mission arriving at Mars at the same time as the UAE is celebrating its 50th anniversary of formation<\/a>. This mission blasted off from Japan in July 2020 using the same \u201claunch window\u201d (the time when there\u2019s a smaller distance between the Earth and Mars) to reach Mars as the Chinese and NASA missions.<\/p>\n