The probe is equipped with ultraviolet and infrared spectrometers, along with an optical and ultraviolet light sensitive camera. It will be placed in an equatorial orbit that allows you to observe how conditions in the lower atmosphere change over time. “It covers all regions of Mars at all local times on Mars, and that is a comprehensive understanding that fills the gap of changes over time across different Mars stations for an entire year,” said Al Amiri.
The UAE mission is only the first of three Mars missions scheduled to launch this month, while Earth is particularly close to Mars. The next step is China’s Tianwen-1 mission to place a lander and a 530-pound rover on the planet. Designed to verify the geology of the red planet, it is equipped with six instruments including a weather station, a magnetic field detector, and ground penetrating radar. That mission is slated to launch on July 23.
Then on July 30, the US and Europe will launch the Mars 2020 mission, complete with the 2,315-pound Perseverence rover. It is designed to land on Mars in February 2021 and collect several dozen samples from promising sites. These will be collected in 2026 by NASA’s Sample Retrieval Lander (SRL) mission, and brought back by a rocket called the Mars Ascent Vehicle.
