Space Race: Mission to Mars

Why now?

Earth and Mars orbit around the sun at different speeds and distances, like race cars travelling in separate lanes on an elliptical race track.

Depending on where they are in their elliptical orbits, the planets can be up to 250 million miles or so apart.

NASA, China and the Emirates timed their launches to take advantage of when Earth and Mars are closest, which happens every two years, to make the journey as fuel-efficient and cost-effective as possible. To reach Mars in February, NASA expects the spacecraft will travel about 309 million miles.

Ice

The most valuable commodity on Mars is frozen water, or ice, which would be needed to drink or be used as a source of oxygen and hydrogen for fuel in future Mars endeavors. Surface ice deposits are estimated to be as much as the entire Greenland ice cap with more likely lurking underground.

Signs of water

In addition to ice, scientists have located “hydrated minerals,” which may be a sign of where ancient water was. They also may help point to where water currently exists under the surface.

Water-equivalent Hydrogen detected

Spot check

Geologic analysis and high-resolution imagery have helped identify areas to explore, such as gullies that may indicate near-surface ice or water. The uniformity of the layers seen here in the Candor Chasma suggest they may have been formed by subsurface water.

The Perseverance rover will be visiting the Jezero Crater, chosen because the formation was once a vast lake and shows traces of a fan-like river delta today. Agency scientists consider it a likely spot for the evolution of life billions of years ago—if life ever existed at all on Mars.

Safe for landing

More missions have been attempted to Mars than to any other place in the Solar System except the Moon. There have been 14 landing attempts on Mars, nine of which made it. All but one of those successful missions were by NASA and only one American attempt has failed to land.

The rover will test whether it can produce pure oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide, drill into rocks for samples, and employ a new hazard avoidance system and a microphone intended to give clues about the rover's health and operations.

The first test flight on another planet

And two months after landing, it will also deploy its most experimental payload: the first helicopter to be flight-tested on Mars. If successful, future Mars missions could use such drones as scouts for human crews, to carry small payloads or to scout distant terrain, NASA officials say.

The 4-pound Ingenuity helicopter features four specially made carbon-fiber blades arranged into two 4-foot-long counter-rotating rotors that spin at around 2,400 rpm——about eight times as fast as a standard helicopter on Earth. The faster speed is required, because the Martian atmosphere is so much less dense than Earth’s.

Its solar panel can charge the craft’s lithium-ion batteries with enough energy for one 90-second flight per Martian day.

The helicopter will attempt three test flights on the Red Planet. If it performs as planned, the sky's the limit.

NASA’s rover is slated to arrive at the Red Planet on Feb. 18, 2021, regardless of what day it lifts off during the launch period, space agency officials say.