Three spaceships are about to reach Mars. Here’s everything you need to know

You would be forgiven for letting it slip into your mind, but last July three spacecraft were launched to Mars. Now, after a seven-month journey, they are about to arrive.

So what are they?

The missions are from three different countries – the United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, and the US – and they all launched within a few weeks of each other.

It is best to try to launch to Mars every 26 months, when our two planets align the orbits for the shortest time, which is why they sent they launched at the same time.

It is the first of three to reach the UAE Hope spacecraft, which launched on July 19 and should go into orbit around the Red Planet tomorrow, Tuesday, February 9.

Hope is the first interplanetary spacecraft ever launched by the Arab world, obviously leaving it as the first Arab mission to Mars as well.

With a weight of 1,350 kilograms and a cost of $ 200 million, the spacecraft will be located between 20,000 and 43,000 kilometers above the surface of Mars, completing orbit once every 55 hours.

The spacecraft orbits 25 degrees to the Martian equator, allowing most of the planet to see how it sinks.

There are three instruments on board, designed to measure Martian atmosphere and weather, watch for dust storms and ice clouds, and even monitor the seasons on Mars.

Of course, he also has a camera on board, and he returns some amazing images of the Red Planet back to Earth during his two – year mission.

This could be extended to four years, however, if the spacecraft is still healthy.

Properly following its steps will be the Tianwen-1 mission in China, which launched on July 23 and is set to orbit Earth on Wednesday, February 10th.

Like the UAE, this is China ‘s first mission to Mars – although it has recently completed several Earth and lunar orbit missions, including the recent return of samples from Moon to Earth.

The mission consists of an orbiter weighing about 3,000 kilogrgams and a rover weighing 240 kilograms.

The latter is expected to rub down on the Martian surface in May, using architecture similar to the Chang’e series of Moon landers.

If successful, China will be the only third country to land on Mars after the US and the Soviet Union – although the last ruler of Mars 3 lasted just a few seconds in 1971.

Nature’s landing, however – entering orbit before it touches the surface – is different from previous landings, which flew directly to the surface.

Tianwen-1 rover crashes in an area of ​​Mars called Utopia Planitia. The landing platform rubs, before the rover comes down to the surface from a used ramp.

The Martian mission is expected to last 90 days (known as sols, about 93 days on Earth), but it could be extended beyond that.

Using solar power, and equipped with six instruments and two cameras, the rover passes over the surface, returning images and data to Earth.

Some of his scientific goals include looking for ice water underground, although many of the other planned activities are not known for now.

Then, on February 18, it’s the big one. NASA’s $ 2.7 billion Perseverance rover, after launching from Earth on July 30, is expected to crash down in Jezero Crater on Mars.

Perseverance, weighing 1,025 kilograms, is equal in beauty to its predecessor Curiosity, which landed on Mars in August 2012. This time, however, it has more ambitious scientific goals.

As Curiosity looks for evidence that Mars once lived – proving that it was – perseverance actively looks for a past life on Mars.

Jezero Crater, which he explored for two years, is home to a river and lake delta billions of years ago, a prime location for a potential rise.

Perseverance uses instruments to study Martian rocks, and look for signs of organs or even microfossils of hidden microbial life inside.

Interestingly, it will store some surface specimens in small compost-sized cages, which will be built on a “fetch” mission from Europe and the US later this decade.

The rover has plenty of other tools up the sleeves, too. It will take images and even videos of the surface for one, including elegant scenes of Jezero Crater.

It will also use the conversion of carbon dioxide from Martian air to oxygen, a device that could be useful for future human missions to Mars.

Like Tianwen-1, it will look under the Martian surface for water ice using ground-penetrating radar, and monitor Martian weather.

And that’s not it. Within the first 50 days or so of the mission, he will land a helicopter on the surface of Mars called Ingenuity.

Although only a technical demonstration, this is the first ever attempt to fly on the surface of another planet.

If successful, similar technology could be used on future human missions to Mars.

So, there is a lot of excitement about how these Mars missions will start to arrive.

First with Hope, and then eventually Tianwen-1 and Perseverance, the Red Planet is suddenly becoming busier with human visitors.

Assuming they all arrived as expected, we should be in for years of interesting imagery and data back from Mars – and perhaps, even, tasting evidence for life itself .