Red Planet Day: The many missions that brought humans closer to Mars

Red Planet Day: The many missions that brought humans closer to Mars

Subject: Science and tech

Context-

• Commemorating the day one of the most significant space missions to Mars was launched, November 28 is marked as Red Planet Day.

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• On this day in 1964, the United States launched the space probe Mariner 4 on a course towards Mars, which it flew past in July 1965, sending back pictures of the red planet.
• This was the first time that a spacecraft undertook the first flyby of the red planet, becoming the first-ever spacecraft to take close-up photographs of another planet.

crucial space missions to the MARS-

Early 19th century-

• In the late 19th century, Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli claimed to have observed linear patterns on the surface of the planet that he called canali.
• This was mistranslated into English as canals, leading some to believe canals were built by intelligent beings on Mars — an early instance of Mars being thought to have life, similar to Earth.

1964: Mariner 4

• Mariner 4, after 8 months of the voyage to mars, send the images of  lunar-type impact craters.
• A television camera onboard took 22 pictures, covering about 1% of the planet.
• These photos were transmitted to Earth in four days.
• Mariner 4 lasts about three years in solar orbit, continuing long-term studies of the solar wind environment and making coordinated measurements with Mariner 5.
• The photographs also revealed a cratered surface resembling the Moon, although because of their limited range, they failed to cover the more geologically diverse features that we know about now.

Viking missions of the 1970s and the 1980s-

• The Viking missions (1970s) carried out the first chemical analysis of Martian soil, as well as four biology experiments to detect biological activity.
• In the early 1980s, scientists hypothesised, based on mineralogic composition and rock texture, that certain meteorites might have a source region in Mars.
• In 1984, a study showed that the isotopic composition of rare gases (Xenon, Krypton, Neon and Argon) matched the isotopic ratios of the Martian atmosphere measured by the Viking spacecraft.
• This discovery provided a way for geochemists to study Martian samples – and provided a huge boost to our understanding of the geochemical evolution of Mars.

Odyssey, 2001 and water on Mars

• In 2001, the Gamma Ray Spectrometer on board the Mars Odyssey spacecraft detected a fascinating hydrogen signature that seemed to indicate the presence of water ice.
• NASA’s Phoenix landed on the Martian North Pole in May 2008, and survived for about 150 days.
• The robotic arms of Phoenix scooped soil and ice from the surface, heated the material in eight ovens, and measured the composition of the gases with a mass spectrometer.
• The Phoenix mission established conclusively that the initial discovery of hydrogen by Mars Odyssey in 2002 was indeed water ice.

Beyond the West

• NASA has a lander (Mars Insight), a rover (Curiosity), and three orbiters (Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey, MAVEN);
• India has an orbiter (Mangalyaan-1);
  • India’s Mars Orbiter Mission — a technology demonstration venture — carried five scientific payloads (total 15 kg) collecting data on surface geology, morphology, atmospheric processes, surface temperature and atmospheric escape process.
• the EU has 2 orbiters (Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter); and
• China and UAE will have an orbiter each (Hope and Tianwen-1 respectively).
  • The UAE mission will study the Martian atmosphere and will seek to address the question of how and why Mars lost its atmosphere.

About Mars planet-

• Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, being larger than only Mercury.
• Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin atmosphere (less than 1% that of Earth’s) and has a crust primarily composed of elements similar to Earth’s crust, as well as a core made of iron and nickel.
• Mars has surface features such as impact craters, valleys, dunes, and polar ice caps.
• It has two small and irregularly shaped moons: Phobos and Deimos.
• Some of the most notable surface features on Mars include Olympus Mons,the largest volcano and highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System, and Valles Marineris, one of the largest canyons in the Solar System.
• The Borealis basin in the Northern Hemisphere covers approximately 40% of the planet and may be a large impact feature.
• Days and seasons on Mars are comparable to those of Earth, as the planets have a similar rotation period and tilt of the rotational axis relative to the ecliptic plane.
• Liquid water on the surface of Mars cannot exist due to low atmospheric pressure, which is less than 1% of the atmospheric pressure on Earth.
• Both of Mars’s polar ice caps appear to be made largely of water.
• In the distant past, Mars was likely wetter, and thus possibly more suited for life. However, it is unknown whether life has ever existed on Mars.
• Mars can be viewed from Earth with the naked eye, as can it’s reddish coloring.
• This appearance, due to the iron oxide prevalent on its surface, has led to Mars often being called the Red Planet.

It is among the brightest objects in Earth’s sky, with an apparent magnitude that reaches −2.94, comparable to that of Jupiter and surpassed only by Venus, the Moon and the Sun.