Mars missions.. Sixty years of planning to conquer the Red Planet
Martian journeys and exploration coincided with the start of the space age in the 1960s, and no planet has attracted the attention of explorers and engineers as much as the Red Planet. Since the announcement of the first mission until today, 47 trips to Mars have been launched, but nearly half of this number have been able to complete the mission, either partially or completely, according to NASA. And a few countries were able to have the honor of reaching the Earth's twin, starting with America and Russia (the former Soviet Union), then China, the European Space Agency, India, and the last to join them is the UAE.
The first trips to the Red Planet also answered many questions that were difficult for telescopes to answer from Earth, the most important of which were the nature of the terrain, temperature, and many of the mysteries that hovered around it. There is no harm in saying that we are still in the process of learning and exploration despite the large number of trips and huge expenses. What we know about Mars is the knoll at the top of the iceberg, and what we do not realize is what is hidden under the water.
The space race was one of the tracks on which the two parties to the conflict - the Soviet Union and the United States of America - played in the Cold War between them, and it left a huge scientific legacy that is indispensable today, and perhaps space exploration would not have grown so quickly if not for a raging conflict that urged the two parties to move forward. ahead and overtake obstacles.
The exploration of Mars was on the list of priorities for the two powers, and the record of the historical sequence of space flights shows us the extent of the competition between a response and a scientific achievement followed by another, and despite the fierce competition, there was some cooperation between the two governments in this file, from the exchange of information And experiences, according to what was announced by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) after it published documents dating back to that era recently.1
Before going into a summary of the Mars journeys that paved the way for man today to see beyond the limited horizon; It is important to address the reasons and justifications that motivate humans today to go to the Red Planet, according to what decision makers and workers in this field see from huge space companies.
Earth's twin... Theories of life on the mortal planet
The race to Mars - as we mentioned above - was a scientific leap and an attempt to appease the opponent in the Cold War, but the war ended a long time ago, and research work is still going on in full swing in this regard, and for scientists and researchers, there are convincing reasons to do so.
Studies based on "Martian" evidence from soil analysis and the study of the layers of the poles show that the Red Planet was previously able to host a living ecosystem, and the possibility of providing living conditions for microbes is still on the planet's surface.
Dozens of spacecraft have visited Mars, orbited around it or landed on it since the first space age
In astronomy, Mars is located in the habitable zone, where the heat and energy coming from the star are appropriate and appropriate for the flourishing of all kinds of life on the planet’s surface. Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system in terms of its proximity to the sun, and its size is almost half the size Earth, with a gravitational acceleration of only about 40%. Because of its distance from the sun, its year takes 687 Earth days, or two Earth years. The positive and common thing is that a day on Mars is only 40 minutes longer than it is on Earth.
Looking at Mars as an environment that was incubating life may give some motivation in moving humanity to that vast remote spot, and scientists cite branching streams, rivers and basins on the presence of water in the foregoing, and perhaps some of them saw that a vast ocean covered the northern half of Mars.
There is another reason that drives researchers to study Mars, which is to understand the reasons that led the planet to perdition, which may lead us in one way or another to be careful before the disaster, and we are not here to talk about an attempt or how to revive the Red Planet, the talk here is limited Only on the flights that have passed, rotated and landed on Mars.
Mariner 4, the first human messenger to Mars
The Soviet Union launched the first satellite, “Sputnik” in 1957, in a historical precedent on the level of humanity, but soon the interest shifted and its diameters expanded, until it included the remote red spot located at an average distance of 145 million km, that is, the planet Mars, and with the beginning of the sixties work began on a program It aims to reach it, or pass it (Flyby), if you will, as it is said in the scientific community.
And there were at least 7 flights by the Russians in the sixties towards Mars, but all of them failed, either they were destroyed during the lift-off process, or they were unable to escape from Earth's orbit, or they encountered glitches and technical problems during the flight.
The first image of Mars was taken by the Mariner 4 probe in 1965
At the same time, the Americans could not stand idly by in this race, so the Mariner program was established in the same era as well, and despite the failure of the first attempts, the fourth flight of the program succeeded, as the Mariner 4 probe, in July 1965, was able to reach Safely to Mars after a journey that lasted about 8 months, and he passed by the planet and took 21 pictures, and it was the first time we saw the planet from this close.2
In 1969, NASA re-launched the Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 probes, and we were able to send a total of 201 images of the surface of Mars, after they flew over the equator and south pole of Mars, covering about 20% of the planet. To obtain the description of the first satellite orbiting another planet far from Earth, to cover the entire Red Planet, with a total of 7,329 images, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.3
In those transmitted snapshots, it became clear to any inhabitants of the Earth that there are no artificial water channels on the surface of Mars as was believed for two centuries, and many Martian landmarks were discovered, such as Mount Olympus, the largest mountain and volcano in the solar system, and many canyons, and a valley. Mariner" giant, whose length exceeds 4 thousand km.
“Mars 3” .. the first direct contact with the surface of another planet
Soon, the Soviet Union returned to the fore by announcing the project to land on the surface of the Red Planet, despite the bad weather and severe sandstorms. In 1971, "Mars 2" was launched as the first attempt, but it was destroyed during the landing process. And later in the same year, "Mars 3" was launched to enter history from its widest doors, as the first direct contact with the surface of another planet occurred, after the landing vehicle completed a soft landing (Soft Landing) using a parachute to reduce the speed, but soon the connection was cut off for technical reasons.
On the other hand, the US space agency NASA was working on launching a similar mission within the Viking space program in the mid-seventies, and the project included two landing craft and two orbiting space shuttles (the orbiting shuttle is a satellite that orbits around an object).
One of the most famous pictures of Mars taken by the Viking probe, showing mountainous terrain in the form of a human face
The shuttles "Viking 1" and "Viking 2" reached Mars in 1976 after the process of landing safely in the northern half of the planet, and their work continued for a long time, hoping to find information that there were any signs of life, and with the data being sent continuously towards Earth, it dissipated The hopes of scientists, and it seemed that the planet did not have anything worthy of attention, but exciting information was announced describing an identical similarity of the composition of Mars to the composition of some meteorites on the planet, which raises many question marks about how these meteorites arrived.4
In the following decade, Mars did not witness as much exploration activity as before, as there were only two attempts by the Russians to go to Phobos, one of the moons of the Red Planet, and they lost contact at the moment of their arrival. This coincided with the faltering government of the Soviet Union, which announced its downfall in 1991, which directly affected the Russians' research work and possibly their loss of the space race, but a new era of Mars exploration has just begun.
Sojourner... the first roamer on Mars
In the 1990s, space programs witnessed real growth on several levels. After the huge loss suffered by NASA in its “Mars Observer” mission, whose costs were estimated at about $813 million, which is 4 times the initial budget of the project; The US government pursued a new campaign at the agency that relied on the latest electronic devices instead of traditional ones, and appointed a new administration, calling it the "Faster, Better, and Cheaper" program.
Spirit and Opportunity, two rovers that walked on the surface of Mars in 2004 and took hundreds of clear pictures of the planet
The result of this was the launch of the “Mars Global Surveyor” probe in 1996 at a cost of only $ 154 million, and it helped to comb the surface of the planet from pole to pole, revealing a number of ancient water features and cavities, and also contributed to determining the places of landing of vehicles. future space.5
The following year, NASA announced the arrival of the first mobile rover to Mars, the Sojourner, via the Mars Pathfinder lander, using a modern landing technology, namely airbags, to reduce the intensity of the impact.
Japan also recorded its first attempts to reach Mars, and is considered an intruder in a race that has been monopolized between Russia and America since its launch, but the "Nazomi" probe did not reach its goal after it lost its way.
The era of wanderers... American industries invade the neighboring planet
With the beginning of the twenty-first century, the world was on a date with the beginning of a wide movement and a lesser demand for space programs, so the establishment of space tourism companies, as well as commercial transport and space travel companies such as “Blue Origin” and “Virgin Galactic”, and certainly SpaceX famous, and with a noticeable rise and greater interest in Mars missions.
The first flight in the new millennium was for NASA's Mars Odyssey space probe, which was sent in 2001 on a reconnaissance mission around the Red Planet. Two decades later, the probe is still operating until this moment, as well as more than A million photos he sent to Earth.
After a long wait, the European Space Agency decided to delve into this research and work on excavating the surface of Mars. In 2003, it sent the "Express" lander and the "Beagle" orbiter on one trip to study the geology of Mars. Unfortunately, the lander was destroyed, but the orbiter still provides the agency with data to this day.
Perhaps what characterizes the most recent millennium is the adoption of rovers as an essential and essential element in the exploration process. The “Spirit” and “Opportunity” rovers were sent in 2004 by NASA, and they were able to obtain evidence of samples indicating To the presence of water in the above in that area. Spirit did not last long due to the bad Martian weather, and Oppertunity remained strong until the summer of 2018, after a severe sandstorm disrupted the work of solar panels, which prompted officials to announce the end of the mission.
In 2005, NASA sent its orbital shuttle "Mars Reconnaissance", which demonstrated an efficiency that surpassed all its predecessors, and is still operating today.
But in 2007, the great surprise and the greatest exploration for astronomers occurred, after the landing of the "Phoenix" lander vehicle near the North Pole in the "Green Valley", and "Phoenix" was able, after examining the soil, to discover the presence of frozen water under the surface of the earth. planet. And again for the same reason, the harsh weather did not spare her, and she was damaged and lost contact.
Signs of life.. trans-planetary exploration and drilling tools
While preoccupied with Mars, the Russian space agency "Roscosmos" was working on re-attempting the landing on the moon "Phobos" through the "Phobos-Grunt" space flight, and it also included the Chinese probe "Yinghu-1" as its first participation in this work. But the failure to steer the rocket toward Mars prevented the mission from being completed, and the spacecraft was stuck in Earth's orbit.
And in 2012, NASA sent a fourth rover, Curiosity, to the Ghali crater, for one purpose, which is to verify the presence of any signs or signs of a habitable environment on the surface of Mars. To answer that, Curiosity carries some drilling tools, spectroscopy, organic matter analysis and rock analysis. After 10 years, the answer was, “Yes, Mars was previously habitable,” as indicated by the deputy director of the Curiosity program, researcher “Abigail Freeman.”7
The Curiosity rover that landed on Mars in 2012 inside the Galli crater
Meanwhile, a new member appears and joins the club of Mars explorers, India, which was able to successfully send the MOM probe around the planet in 2014, providing additional images and updated information on the nature of the climate. In the same year, NASA also sent its orbital shuttle "MAVEN" to study the reasons behind the smallness of the atmosphere and its change over the years. For the same purpose, and to study the atmosphere, the European Space Agency, in cooperation with the Russian Space Agency, sent the TGO probe to examine the Martian atmosphere in 2016.
And in 2018, NASA sent the InSight lander, with which it aimed to study the internal structure of the planet for the first time. Contrary to what seemed to engineers, the soil of Mars was more harsh than what was adopted in the initial calculations, so the mission did not achieve many results.
In his book Beyond Earth, the Bangladeshi space historian Asif Azam Siddiqui speaks at length about all the spaceflights that passed through the Red Planet between 1956-2016.
Today's flights.. Arab presence and the first Mars helicopter
It should be noted that 5 American-made rovers managed to land on the surface of Mars and work properly, the last of which was the Perseverance rover, which was sent by NASA to the Jezero crater in 2020. At the same time, the spacecraft was accompanied by an Ingenuity helicopter. Small in size, the first time that a machine flew in the sky of Mars, and the Arabs had a share in its manufacture, as the Palestinian engineer Louay Al-Bassiouni participated in achieving this impressive achievement. According to engineers, the helicopter has weathered 19 storms so far, and has lived longer than it was meant to.
The Hope Probe is the first Arab spacecraft to reach Mars
Later, the UAE joined a group of countries that overcame difficulties and reached one of the expected stations for humans in the near future, as the "Hope" probe was able in 2021 to reach Mars, and to take pictures of the intermittent aurora borealis of Mars, and it was difficult to find, due to the weak cover Magnetic planet.
In the latest Mars missions - as of writing this article - China sent a landing craft and an orbital shuttle within the Tianwen-1 mission in 2021, to study the content and water storage in the soil, and it was not only that, but it was part of the mission The first non-US rover to walk the Red Planet, the Zhurong rover.10
And with that long history of Mars exploration and indirect communication between us, we are closer today than we ever have been to landing on the Red Planet. It is thanks to every contribution and participation that has benefited in this long journey, and it is no wonder that the largest companies today dare to plan to go to that point, as our stock of knowledge has become able to give us an additional dimension to understanding the nature of life on Mars.
Sources:
[1] Langlois, Krista (2019). Magnet: The Cold War, the exploration of Mars, and the attraction of the Red Planet. Retrieved from: https://www.readex.com/blog/%E2%80%9C-alluring-magnet%E2%80%9D-cold-war-martian-exploration-and-pull-red-planet
[2] Website editors (date unknown). Mariner 4. Retrieved from: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mariner-4
[3] Filmer, Joshua (2014). A Brief History of the Mars Missions. Retrieved from: https://futurism.com/a-brief-history-of-martian-missions
[4] Website editors (date unknown). Viking spacecraft. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Viking-space-probe
[5] Howell, Elizabeth (2016). The Mars Comprehensive Survey: A New Generation of Space Probes. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/18403-mars-global-surveyor.html
[6] Howell, Elizabeth (2018). Mars Odyssey: a record-breaking mission to Mars. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/18270-mars-odyssey.html
[7] Stafini, Your Parents (2022). Curiosity has been exploring Mars for 10 years. This is what we learned. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/curiosity-mars-rover-10-years-of-science
[8] Howell, Elizabeth and Stein, Vicki (2022). Mars Missions: A Brief History. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/13558-historic-mars-missions.html
[9] Cooper, Keith (2022). The Emirati Hope Probe discovers a new variety of aurora borealis over the Red Planet. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/emirates-mars-hope-mission-patchy-aurora
[10] [8] Hoyle, Elizabeth and Stein, Vicki (2022). Mars Missions: A Brief History. Retrieved from: https://www.space.com/13558-historic-mars-missions.html
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