Australian Sky & Telescope — January 01, 2018

16 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE January 2018

NASA / JPL-CALTECH

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very26months,EarthandMarscomeclosetoeach

otherinspace,offeringashortwindowduringwhicha

voyagetotheRedPlanetisasefficientatripaspossible.

Apartfrom2009,engineershaveusedeachsuch

windowthiscenturytosendspacecrafttoMars.The

next,in2018,willseeNASAlaunchitsInsightrobotic

lander,aimingtostudytheplanet’sgeologicalevolution.

But2020willbespecial.HereonEarth,aconflationof

technological progress, exploration strategies and delayed

missionswillmeanthatnotonebutfour(ormore)spacecraft

willberocketingtotheRedPlanet.

NotonlyaretheusualsuspectsNASAandESAsending

missionsin2020,butfirst-timevoyagersaregoing,too.

TheUnitedArabEmirates’Hopeorbiterwilljoinsixother

spacecraftalreadyloopingaroundMars,asthefirst-ever

missiontotheRedPlanetbyanArabcountry.Meanwhile,

China will send its first independent mission to the Red

Planet,apayloadcomprisingthreeelements:anorbiter,

lander and rover.

Outwardly,Marsisadead,redrock.Sowhythe

fascination?Whysendsomanyspacecrafttothesame

planet?TheplaintruthisthatMarsisEarth’smostsimilar

neighbour. Observations from previous missions suggest

thatthisworldoncehadathickeratmosphere,flowingwater

andalltheingredientsnecessarytosustainlife.Asaresult,

beyondthedesiretophysicallysetfootonanewworld,the

possibility of finding hidden alien life awakens the natural

humanurgetoexplore.

Dusting for fingerprints

After a barren period following the 1976 touchdowns of

the audacious Viking landers (an interval broken only by

RED PLANET RESEARCH by Benjamin Skuse