The Red Planet welcomes this year three of its new visitors from the planet, among them the first Arab-Islamic space probe launched by the United Arab Emirates, "the probe of hope", which will make it among only nine countries around the world to launch vehicles to Mars.
Alongside the "Probe of Hope" comes the second visitor, the Chinese spacecraft "Tianwin-1", which will carry on it a space probe, a spacecraft will land on Mars and a mobile spacecraft, as well as a third visitor, the American "Persephone", which is scheduled to land. On the mouth of Geiserro, a region that, billions of years ago, contained rivers and seas on the planet.
And the "probe of hope" will fly around Mars in a way never seen before in the world and will be the first of its kind to study the climate on the surface of our mysterious neighbor throughout the day, making the UAE a global partner in developing human knowledge.
If these three missions succeed, the year 2021 may pave the way for new and historical discoveries about the closest planets to Earth.
Hope probe.
The mission of "Probe of Hope" comes after the successful launch in 2018 of "Khalifa Sat", the first Emirati satellite dedicated to Earth observation. The probe is expected to reach Mars by February 2021, the year in which the country will celebrate its fiftieth anniversary by The late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, may God have mercy on him.
The objectives of the Emirates project to explore Mars - the probe of hope are focused on probing the weather dynamics of Mars, studying its atmosphere, understanding the climatic changes occurring on the red planet, and studying the phenomenon of oxygen and hydrogen gas escaping from its atmosphere by studying the relationship between the lower and upper atmosphere layers.
An analysis of the probe data would contribute to drawing a clear and comprehensive picture of the layers of the atmosphere of Mars, which in turn leads to a greater understanding of the reasons for the transformation of Mars from a scientist who was wet to a dry and cool planet now .. The mission goal is consistent with a larger goal and higher ambition which is building a settlement Mankind on the red planet for the next hundred years.
And the probe of hope will remain in orbit for a full year or the equivalent of 687 days on Earth and will take 55 hours per session .. And the probe will be controlled from Dubai, and will witness the first countdown in the Arabic language in the history of space exploration.
The vehicle "Tianwin-1".
For its part, "China" enters the spacecraft to race Mars with a spacecraft with three distinct characteristics and will carry "Tianwin-1" on board a space probe and a spacecraft will land on Mars and a mobile spacecraft.
China is expected to launch its spacecraft on July 23, but this date is uncertain until now. If the mission succeeds, it will be a step forward in the framework of the Chinese space program.
And China succeeded earlier in the launch of many vehicles on the moon, but landing on Mars seems much more difficult because of the atmosphere, which requires a kind of protection of the vehicle from the heat and the air will be very thin, which makes relying on parachutes alone to achieve a safe and slow landing is not enough.
But landing is not the main goal of the mission which is to collect "Tianwin-1" as much data as possible on the red planet as well as study the magnetic field and atmosphere of the planet and map its surface using a high-resolution camera ... while the rover will be equipped with equipment that will contribute to drawing Maps of the Martian interior and investigation of ice on the Red Planet.
The vehicle "Perseverance".
The United States - the only country that has successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars to date - plans to launch a new spacecraft to join the two spacecraft currently on Mars for a more comprehensive study of the red planet.
The "Perseverance" spacecraft is scheduled to be launched on July 30, landing in the Jiziero crater, a region that had contained billions of years ago, rivers and seas, and thus the region provides a high opportunity to find evidence of microbial life on the Red Planet.
The vehicle will collect and store samples of rocks to bring them to the ground for study, which may contain indications of the existence of life for species of microbes.
The "Perseverance" spacecraft will transfer to Mars a new vehicle of its kind, which is the "Ingenuity", which will be the first helicopter to fly on Mars .. And the mission of flying in Mars is not an easy task due to the extremely cold climate and low-density atmosphere.
A race against time.
And there is a very limited time ceiling for sending effective, cost-effective spacecraft to Mars avoiding the high cost of previous flights.
The probe transmission process requires tremendous accuracy in the departure angle from the ground, where the accuracy of this angle reaches 1 arc seconds, in addition to directing the probe across the path very accurately.
And in order to ensure that the minimum energy and fuel consumption required to reach Mars is used, the planets must be aligned on the same side of the Sun .. The journey usually takes about 7 months to reach its destination.
In the event that these three trips succeed in reaching the red planet and achieving the required goals, it is hoped to reach enormous discoveries that give us a better understanding of the red planet, which had some similarities with the Earth in one day and therefore a greater understanding of the past and the future of the planet.
Space exploration is a necessary shift in understanding the vast universe that holds many secrets that we have not yet discovered, in addition to giving us a greater understanding of our planet's past and future.
And reaching Mars does not only give us a better opportunity to know whether life is located elsewhere in the universe, but rather it raises a fundamental question for humanity that we have not yet reached an answer to which is whether the planet is an ideal destination for human exploration in the future and perhaps the establishment of human settlements outside the planet .