Mars missions of 2021
Three major expeditions from the US, China and the UAE reached Mars this year. Read more about these expeditions here…
Perseverance rover (US)
- Perseverance is a NASA Mars rover that landed on 18 February 2021.
- The rover will search for past life on Mars and collect soil and rock samples for future return to Earth.
- Getting Perseverance’s samples back to Earth will require at least two missions that are currently being planned by NASA and the European Space Agency.
Why we need Perseverance
Perseverance launched on 30 July 2020 amidst the added challenge of the global COVID-19 pandemic. On 18 February 2021, it landed in Jezero crater, the site of an ancient lake and river delta. There, the rover will search for microbial fossils in rocks that formed in Mars’ warm, wet past. It will also look for carbon-containing molecules called organics that form the building blocks of life on Earth.
Not since 1976 has NASA directly searched for life on Mars, when the dual Viking landers performed long-shot chemistry experiments that turned up inconclusive results.Perseverance will also collect soil and rock samples as it travels, and store them in tubes that future missions by NASA and the European Space Agency will collect.
Tianwen-1 orbiter, lander and Zhurong rover (China)
- Tianwen-1 (“questions to heaven,” or “questioning the heavens”) is China’s first Mars mission, consisting of an orbiter and a rover named Zhurong. It entered Mars orbit on 10 February 2021 and Zhurong will not land until May or June.
- Among the rover’s science instruments is a radar that could detect pockets of water beneath the surface, which may contain life.
- Only NASA has successfully landed and operated spacecraft on Mars. More countries exploring Mars and our solar system means more discoveries and opportunities for global collaboration.
Why we need Tianwen-1
China’s Tianwen-1 Mars mission launched on 23 July 2020 amidst the added challenge of the global COVID-19 pandemic. It will, among other things, search for pockets of water using radar mounted on the Zhurong rover. The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft found evidence for subsurface water using radar from orbit, but this will be the first time a rover has searched from the ground.
Tianwen-1 will give China valuable Mars experience and lay groundwork for a possible sample return mission planned for the end of the 2020s.
Hope orbiter United Arab Emirates (UAE)
- Hope is a United Arab Emirates mission to Mars that arrived in orbit on 9 February 2021.
- The mission will build a complete picture of Mars’ climate, helping scientists better understand what Mars was like when its atmosphere could have supported life.
- Hope is the Arab world’s first mission to another planet. More countries exploring our solar system means more discoveries and opportunities for global collaboration.
Why We Need Hope
Mars is a cold, dry, desert, with a carbon dioxide-filled atmosphere 100 times thinner than Earth’s. But it wasn’t always like that. We know liquid water once flowed on its surface, supported by an atmosphere that may have been favorable to life.
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