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<br /><ul><li><keyword id="7940647" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="mission-mangalyaan">Mission Mangalyaan</keyword> is commended for being the cheapest ever <keyword id="452868" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mission-to-Mars">mission to Mars</keyword>, which was successful on a budget of ₹4.5 billion. <br /></li><li>Its cost was less than the budget of the upcoming movie based on the event, <keyword id="1961443" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="mission-mangal">Mission Mangal</keyword> which was produced for ₹5 billion. <br /></li><li>But its limited budget meant that it was only a technology demonstration mission for the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) rather than one focused on collecting scientific data.<br /></li></ul>The upcoming Bollywood movie, <em>Mission Mangal</em>, set to release on August 15th celebrates India's successful maiden mission to Mars — Mangalyaan. An ensemble cast consisting of <keyword id="2823" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Akshay-Kumar">Akshay Kumar</keyword>, Vidya Balan and Sharman Joshi all star in a movie that showcases India's space mission. <br /><br /><div type="image" title="66816772_10156986660608283_8557114509213302784_n_edited" msid="70498336" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Cast of &amp;lt;em&amp;gt;Mission Mangal &amp;lt;/em&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />Mission Mangalyaan, or the Mars Orbiter Mission (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/India-Is-Pioneering-The-Low-Cost-Mission-To-Mars/articleshow/25239899.cms">MOM</a>), is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Mangalyaan-Makes-Its-Way-To-Times-Best-Inventions-of-2014-List/articleshow/45260385.cms">lauded</a> for being the cheapest ever mission to Mars which a budget of ₹4.5 billion (₹450 crore). <br /><br />It's also how India came to be the fourth country to land on Mars and the first one to do it successfully on its first attempt. <br /><br /><div type="image" title="mars1_edited" msid="70498480" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Mangalyaan captures its first image of Mars taken from a height of 7300 km&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />Ironically <em>Mission Mangal</em>'s <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/bollywood/akshay-kumar-on-mission-mangal-my-film-2-0-had-a-budget-of-500-crore-india-s-mars-mission-cost-less-than-that/story-bQBoxtyvC1ewHgJXNRhYFN.html">budget</a> is more than that of the actual Mars mission at ₹5 billion (₹500 crore), according to Kumar. <br /><br />But unlike the movie, the story of Mangalyaan doesn't quite end happily ever after.<br /><br /><strong>Defying the odds<br /></strong><br /><em>Mission Mangal</em>'s trailer shows that the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) had proposed a budget ₹8 billion (₹ 800 crore) to launch Mangalyaan but were only allotted a little more than half that amount for the project.<br /><br /><div type="image" title="mom_edited" msid="70498449" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;First image of the Earth by MCC of Mars Orbiter Spacecraft taken on Nov 19, 2013&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />Innovation and <em>jugaad </em>(cheap quick fix solutions to problems) did help turn the mission. This is in spite of the fact that its ‘chances of success were less than 1%'.<br /><br />And, while <em>Mission Mangal</em> seems to highlight the obstacles that India had to overcome in order to launch Mangalyaan — it could fail to illustrate the fact that it came at a cost.<br /><br /><strong>Cost of science<br /></strong><br />In the movie, the project team worries about getting the payloads aboard the rocket. In typical movie fashion, the narrative seems to be skewed towards how they finally managed to ‘fix' it. <br /><br />In reality, ISRO had to drastically cut down on the instruments it had planned to send to Mars because it lacked a rocket with the requisite capacity. <br /><br />Technology like the ‘<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indias-most-powerful-launcher-will-carry-chandrayaan-2-on-moon-mission/articleshow/70202043.cms">Bahubali</a>' GSLV-Mark III heavy launch vehicle which recently launched the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-why-chandrayaan-2-is-landmark-moon-mission-for-india/articleshow/69842571.cms">Chandrayaan 2</a> mission into space wasn't available back in 2013. Instead, India used its lighter PSLV XL launch vehicle — originally built for the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/what-were-the-challenges-with-chandrayaan-1/articleshow/70202192.cms">Chandrayaan 1</a> and the largest available rocket at the time — to reach Mars. <br /><br /><div type="image" title="pslv-c25-23 (1)_edited" msid="70498392" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Mangalyaan&amp;#39;s PSLV XL C25 rocket taking off in 2013&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />A smaller rocket also meant that it could only carry so much weight. Mangalyaan's payload was only 15 kilograms and it could only take five payloads along. <br /><br />And since ISRO only had 18 months to pull the mission together, the instruments were relatively simple, and could only send back to the most basic of information. <br /><br /><div type="image" title="mars06_edited" msid="70498540" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Mangalyaan&amp;#39;s spacecraft undergoing EMI/EMC test at ISITE ISAC Bangalore&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>

<br />To put it in perspective, US' National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) had five years to work on Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (<keyword id="443648" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="MAVEN">MAVEN</keyword>) — which launched a mere 13 days after MOM. It had a capacity of 65 kilograms, carried eight payloads and cost a total of $671 million. And so, its contribution towards scientific advancement and the understanding of Mars was also much higher.<br /><br />Mangalyaan, on the other hand, the aim was just to get there. ISRO, in the past, stated that Mangalyaan was merely a technology demonstration mission to show India's capabilities in outer space technology. In that sense, it could be termed successful, yet its contribution to understanding the elusive planet, is quite less. <br /><br /><strong>See also: <br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india-low-cost-chandrayaan-and-mars-missions-come-at-a-price/articleshow/70226652.cms">India's low cost space missions come at a price</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/isros-commercial-operations-clock-in-over-60-billion-in-revenue-but-leaves-private-players-out-of-the-equation/articleshow/70375311.cms">ISRO's commercial operations clock in over ₹60 billion in revenue but leaves private players out of the equation</a><br />

The truth of ISRO's Mangalyaan which Akshay Kumar's Mission Mangal could miss

<br /> Although <keyword id="164562" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mars-mission">Mars mission</keyword> have a high failure rate worldwide, renowned space scientist UR Rao has expressed confidence that India’s maiden journey to Mars would be a success. <p class="body">
	<span lang="EN">India launched the <keyword id="1925476" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Mars-orbiter">Mars Orbiter</keyword> Mission, called ‘<keyword id="1506013" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="mangalyaan">Mangalyaan</keyword>’, in November 2013. The spacecraft is expected to land on Mars on September 24. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="body">
	<span lang="EN">“More than 30% of Mars missions failed in the beginning, but we have undertaken this for the first time and we will succeed. On September 24, we will go to Mars,” said Rao, chairman, council of management, physical research laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad. Rao added, “we would be able to colonise Mars in less than 1,000 years.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="body">
	<span lang="EN">He said Indian scientists were also working on L1 mission to study the Sun. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="body">
	<span lang="EN">“I am surprised no scientific person is working on the solar corona. We know so little about the Sun. The ignorance is amazing. Papers are being written but we cannot make head or tail of them. Today we have the technological ability to do it. Why are scientific people not doing it? If you have to do great science, you have to have an adventurous attitude,” he told the scientific community at PRL. <o:p></o:p></span></p>

Space Scientist Expresses
Confidence Of Mangalyaan’s Success

<br /><ul><li><keyword id="6360409" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nasa">NASA</keyword>’s Mars InSight lander just detected its first significant quake on Mars.</li><li>Researchers on the project have analysed that the quake is more moon-like in nature than earth-like.</li><li>The discovery of quakes on Mars to kick off a new field of study — Martian seismology.</li></ul>NASA’s Mars InSight lander, which <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasas-new-mars-mission-just-landed--and-it-could-reveal-why-earth-is-habitable-but-the-red-planet-is-not/articleshow/66818558.cms">landed</a> on the Red Planet on 26 November, has <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7383">successfully</a> measured and recorded a ‘Marsquake’ for the very first time.<br /><br />The seismic signal was recorded on April 6 — Insight’s 128th day on Mars — and it’s the first tremor to have been recorded that is coming from inside the planet rather than being caused by extraneous forces.<br /><br />
  <div type="Youtube" id="DLBP-5KoSCc" title="First Likely Marsquake Heard by NASA's InSight" thumbUrl="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/DLBP-5KoSCc/mqdefault.jpg"></div>



<br />Even though it’s still unknown what caused the quake, scientists at NASA and the National Centre for Space Studies (CNES) — the French apex space agency — have <a href="https://presse.cnes.fr/en/world-first-french-seis-instrument-detects-marsquake">determined</a> that the quakes are more moon-like in nature than similar to earthquakes. <br /><br />
  <div type="ExtQuote" text="The Martian Sol 128 event is exciting because its size and longer duration fit the profile of moonquakes detected on the lunar surface during the Apollo missions." auname="Lori Glaze, Planetary Science Division director at NASA Headquarters"></div>



<br />One of the reasons for this is that Mars does not <a href="https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/learn/video/mars-in-a-minute-how-did-mars-get-such-enormous-mountains/">have</a> functioning tectonic plates right or even ones that are clearly defined. Even if the plates did exist or move around— that was a long time <a href="https://www.space.com/17087-mars-surface-marsquakes-plate-tectonics.html">ago</a>. <br /><br />According to Bruce Banerdt, the principle investigator on the InSight mission, the discovery of ‘Marsquakes’ kicks off a new field of study — Martian seismology.<br /><br />
  <div type="ExtQuote" text="We've been collecting background noise up until now, but this first event officially kicks off a new field: Martian seismology." auname="Bruce Banerdt, InSight Principal Investigator, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory"></div>



<br /><br />But, NASA also points out that a quake of this size would barely be detectable on Earth. The only reason it’s significant on Mars is because the planet is so quiet. Three more quakes were also detected on Mars but they were ever weaker. Nonetheless, researchers on the project are optimistic that there are bigger quakes to come in the future.<br /><br />
  <div type="ExtQuote" text="We’re starting to have many small quakes. By the end of the mission we’ll have a super big quake." auname="Philippe Lognonné, SEIS team lead at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP)"></div>



<br />InSight’s measurements of significant seismological activity will help with the lander’s <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasas-insight-lander-may-not-be-as-sexy-as-a-mars-rover-but-heres-why-the-mission-matters-for-earthlings/articleshow/66818815.cms">primary mission</a> to study the interior of Mars. <br /><br />While NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab (JLP) leads the Insight mission, CNES provided the Seismic Experiment for Interior Structure (SEIS) instrument that helped detect the tremors.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasas-insight-lander-may-not-be-as-sexy-as-a-mars-rover-but-heres-why-the-mission-matters-for-earthlings/articleshow/66818815.cms"></a><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasas-new-mars-mission-just-landed--and-it-could-reveal-why-earth-is-habitable-but-the-red-planet-is-not/articleshow/66818558.cms">NASA's new Mars mission just landed - and it could reveal why Earth is habitable but the red planet is not</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasas-insight-lander-may-not-be-as-sexy-as-a-mars-rover-but-heres-why-the-mission-matters-for-earthlings/articleshow/66818815.cms">NASA's InSight lander may not be as sexy as a Mars rover, but here's why the mission matters for Earthlings</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nasa-mars-insight-lander-will-be-the-first-spacecraft-to-study-planets-deep-interior/articleshow/66803762.cms">NASA Mars InSight lander will be the first spacecraft to study planet's deep interior</a><br />

NASA detects a quake on Mars for the very first time — using sound

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> on Thursday launched a mission to Mars called <keyword id="9109397" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tianwen-1">Tianwen-1</keyword>, which translates to "questions to heaven."</li><li>The mission aims to reach Mars in February 2021, slip a satellite into orbit around <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-facts-statistics-2017-5">the red planet</a>, and deploy a lander-rover to the Martian surface.</li><li>The United Arab Emirates <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-misions-launching-to-mars-in-july-from-3-countries-2020-7">launched a Mars probe</a> called Hope on July 19, and NASA plans to launch its own rover on July 30.</li><li>If China pulls off the landing, it would become just the third nation to explore the Martian surface.</li></ul><p>For the first time in nine years, China is on its way to Mars.</p><p>On Thursday afternoon, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-launches-bold-attempt-to-land-rover-on-mars-2020-7">China launched</a> a 187-foot (57-meter) Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in eastern Hainan, a large island in the South China Sea, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-launches-bold-attempt-to-land-rover-on-mars-2020-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according to the Associated Press</a>. The rocket lifted off at 12:40 p.m. local time (12:40 a.m. ET) carrying a 5.5-ton bundle of <keyword id="6375764" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="spacecraft">spacecraft</keyword> designed to execute an ambitious mission called Tianwen-1, which translates to "questions to heaven."</p><p>If the mission successfully arrives in Martian orbit in February 2021, then drops off a surface mission, it will kick off China's first direct exploration of the red planet.</p><p>China first attempted to reach Mars in 2011, as part of Russia's Phobos-Grunt mission. China's Yinghuo-1 experiment was on the flight, and a Russian rocket delivered the spacecraft to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/earth-moon-distance-edge-of-outer-space-2018-5">low-Earth orbit</a>. However, an engine did not ignite and fly the package to Mars, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-phobos-grunt-2011-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dooming the mission</a> by stranding it close to home.</p><p>With Tianwen-1, China is hoping to make up for its loss — and flex newfound technological muscle — by inserting a surface-studying satellite into Martian orbit, then sending a lander-rover spacecraft to the surface.</p><p>"The main task of Tianwen-1 is to perform a global and extensive survey of the entire planet using the orbiter, and to send the rover to surface locations of scientific interests to conduct detailed investigations with high accuracy and resolution," Wan Weixing, the Chinese space physicist who was the Tianwen-1 mission's chief engineer, wrote in <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1148-6" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a July 13 Nature Astronomy article</a>.</p><p>"Scientifically, Tianwen-1 is the most comprehensive mission to investigate the Martian morphology, geology, mineralogy, space environment, and soil and water-ice distribution," Weixing claimed in the piece. (As Business Insider learned from <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2020/07/23/two-down-one-to-go-china-launches-first-ever-mission-to-mars-next-up-nasa/#3109b90e2222" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a Forbes story</a> by Jonathan O'Callaghan, Weixing passed away before the article was published. He died on May 20 at the age of 62, <a href="http://www.bjnews.com.cn/news/2020/05/21/729664.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Chinese Academy of Sciences.)</p><h2>Teeing up a Mars sample return mission</h2><p><div type="image" title="china mars global remote sensing and small rover tianwen hx 1 martian mission spacecraft illustration rendering cas xinhua" height="843" width="1500" msid="77135094" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Once the satellite arrives enters orbit in February 2021, the spacecraft should deploy a landing capsule that will scream through the atmosphere, open a parachute, and deposit the lander-rover package on the Martian surface.</p><p>The rover would then roll off the top of the lander in a process similar to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-moon-mission-lunar-landing-far-side-change4-2018-12">Chang'e 4 and Chinese lunar-landing missions before it</a>. The solar-powered, six-wheeled vehicle will use ground-penetrating radar to study Mars' internal structure and look for pockets of water ice, according to <a href="http://english.gov.cn/news/video/2016/08/24/content_281475424665899.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">state media</a>.</p><p>China's space agency <a href="http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/n6758824/n6758845/c6772477/content.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">describes</a> this mission as a key part of future efforts to scoop up and launch Martian rocks and soil back to Earth, in part to determine if and when life was present on the planet. Chinese scientists hope to get their hands on what may be the first-ever pristine samples of Martian soil by 2030, according <a href="https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/moon-mars/a14506608/united-states-china-racing-first-sample-from-mars/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">to Popular Mechanics</a>.</p><p>Some researchers believe that the sites of ancient <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martian-oasis-water-extraterrestrial-life-2017-5">oasis-like pools</a> on Mars are the best places to dig in search of fossilized remains of microbial Martian life.</p><h2>Why 3 missions are launching to Mars this summer</h2><p><div type="image" title="china mars global remote sensing and small rover tianwen hx 1 martian mission illustration rendering cas xinhua" height="995" width="1500" msid="77135095" hostid="261"></div></p><p>Tianwen-1's launch follows that of the United Arab Emirate's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/watch-united-arab-emirates-first-mars-mission-hope-orbiter-launch-2020-7">July 19 launch of Hope</a> — that nation's first-ever <keyword id="164562" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars-mission">Mars mission</keyword>. On July 30, NASA hopes to launch its own and even more ambitious Perseverance <keyword id="718236" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars-rover">Mars rover</keyword> mission, landing it in Jezero Crater in early 2021 — a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-2020-rover-landing-site-jezero-crater-2018-11">site that may include signs of past alien life</a>.</p><p>That car-size, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-plutonium-fuel-automation-oak-ridge-energy-department-2019-1">nuclear-powered</a> robot will also set up the US for a Martian soil-sample return. NASA is the most recent entity to successfully reach Mars with its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-probe-landing-successful-science-mission-2018-11">InSight lander,</a> designed to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-lander-may-solve-earth-mysteries-2018-11">listen for Mars quakes</a> and deploy a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-850-million-dollar-drill-2018-11">"mole" probe</a> to investigate the planet's internal structure.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-misions-launching-to-mars-in-july-from-3-countries-2020-7">Business Insider's Morgan McFall-Johnsen reported</a>, all three missions are launching this summer to take advantage of a launch window that opens for a few months every two years, when Earth and Mars closely align — making for a dramatically shorter trip.</p><h2>Landing on Mars is anything but easy</h2><p><div type="image" title="china mars global remote sensing and small rover tianwen hx 1 martian mission lander laser illustration rendering cas xinhua" height="843" width="1500" msid="77135098" hostid="261"></div></p><p>If the Tianwen-1's lander and rover spacecraft successfully touch down, the mission would make China only the third nation to explore the Martian surface, along with the United States and Russia. That's partly because Mars is <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-mission-landing-when-what-time-2018-11">one of the most difficult planets to land on</a>. Its atmosphere is thick enough to burn up a spacecraft, yet too thin to completely slow down a mission during reentry (as can happen on Earth). Fewer than half of all missions sent to land on Mars have arrived safely.</p><p>One of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/europe-russia-mars-landing-possible-failure-2016-10">latest failed landings</a> was a European probe called Schiaparelli. In 2016, as it approached the surface, its rocket thrusters turned on prematurely, causing it to fall from a mile high, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-lander-explosion-esa-2016-10">then crash and explode</a>.</p>

China just launched an ambitious Mars mission that could be its first to reach the red planet — and make it just the third nation to explore the Martian surface

<ul><li><strong>About 36 minutes after the Mars probe was launched, the spacecraft, including an orbiter and a rover, was sent into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit, according to the <keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="China">China</keyword> National Space Administration (CNSA). </strong></li><li><strong>The <keyword id="36918" type="COUNTRY" weightage="20" keywordseo="chinese">Chinese</keyword> Mars probe named Tianwen 1, or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific objectives: orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation, landing on Martian soil and sending a rover to roam the landing site. </strong></li><li><strong>It will conduct scientific investigations into the planet's soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water, media reports said. </strong><br /></li></ul>China successfully launched its <keyword id="9627057" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="first-mars-probe">first Mars probe</keyword> on Thursday from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan, official media here reported. <br /><br /> About 36 minutes after the Mars probe was launched, the spacecraft, including an orbiter and a rover, was sent into the Earth-Mars transfer orbit, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). <br /><br /> The Chinese Mars probe named Tianwen 1, or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific objectives: orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation, landing on Martian soil and sending a rover to roam the landing site. <br /><br /> It will conduct scientific investigations into the planet's soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water, media reports said. <br /><br /> The Long March 5 rocket, the nation's biggest and most powerful, will transport the robotic probe to the Earth-Mars transfer trajectory before the spacecraft begins its self-propelled flight toward Mars' gravity field. <br /><br /> According to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, a State-owned space conglomerate, the probe will travel for about seven months before it reaches Mars, which at the farthest point of its orbit is about 400 million kilometres from Earth and 55 million kilometres at the nearest point. <br /><br /> It said the probe consists of three parts － the orbiter, the lander and the rover －and they will separate in Mars orbit. The orbiter will remain in the orbit for scientific operations and to relay signals while the lander-rover combination makes an autonomous descent and landing. <br /><br /> The rover has six wheels and four solar panels and carries six scientific instruments. It weighs over 200 kilogrammes and will work for about three months on the planet, designers said. <br /><br /> China aims to catch up with India, the US, Russia and the EU to reach the red planet. <br /><br /> China in recent years has emerged as a major space power with manned space missions and landing a rover in the dark side of the moon. It is currently building a space station of its own. <br /><br /> China's previous attempt to send an exploratory probe to Mars called Yinghuo-1, in a Russian spacecraft in 2011 failed as shortly after the launch it was declared lost and later burnt during re-entry. <br /><br /> The US, Russia, India and the EU have succeeded in sending missions to Mars regarded as the most complex space mission. India became the first Asian country to have successfully launched its Mars orbiter mission Mangalyaan which entered the orbit of the red planet in 2014. <br /><br /> India also became the first country to have entered the Martian orbit in its first attempt. <br /><br /> China's Mars probe is the second such mission launched this month. <br /><br /> A United Arab Emirates spacecraft to go to Mars was launched from Japan on July 20, in what is the Arab world's first interplanetary mission. <br /><br /> The launch of the spacecraft named Amal, or the 'Hope Probe', marks the start of the seven-month journey to the red planet. 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China launches first Mars mission

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>'s <keyword id="9109397" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tianwen-1">Tianwen-1</keyword> spacecraft successfully <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/united-arab-emirates-hope-probe-reaches-mars-orbit-2021-2">maneuvered into orbit around Mars</a> on Wednesday.</li><li>It's the first mission to attempt to deliver an orbiter, a lander, and a <keyword id="155626" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rover">rover</keyword> all together.</li><li>The Tianwen-1 rover will <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-perseverance-rover-will-land-on-mars-2021-2">attempt to land</a> in a water-rich region of <keyword id="47638" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars">Mars</keyword> in May, after which it will scan for underground reservoirs.</li></ul><p>China's first inter<keyword id="46100" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="planet">planet</keyword>ary spacecraft has entered orbit around Mars, a major milestone for the country's space program. That sets the mission up for its next step: landing a rover on the red planet in May.</p><p>Tianwen-1, as the mission is called, means "questions to heaven." It aims to be the first <keyword id="164562" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars-mission">Mars mission</keyword> to send a spacecraft into orbit, drop a landing platform onto the Martian surface, and deploy a rover all in one expedition. On Wednesday, the five-ton probe carrying all the components fired its thrusters for about 15 minutes, slowing its approach as it sped toward Mars and allowing the planet's gravity to pull it into orbit, according to Chinese <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202102/10/WS6023d925a31024ad0baa8a92.html">state</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CGTNOfficial/status/1359486876495663109">media</a>.</p><p>The entire operation was autonomous - the communications delay at such a distance is too long for mission controllers to give the spacecraft instructions in real time. Had this crucial step failed, the spacecraft could have crashed into Mars or careened past the planet into deep space.</p><p>If Tianwen-1 successfully sets its lander down on Martian terrain, that will mark the first non-NASA Mars landing since the Soviet Union's rover touched down in 1971. The mission is also intended to help China prepare for a future attempt to return Martian rocks or dirt to Earth in the late 2020s.</p><div type="image" title="china mars tianwen-1 mission photo arrival orbit" height="3000" width="3000" msid="80790973" hostid="261"></div><p>China's last attempt to launch its first interplanetary mission involved a simple Mars orbiter. But the Russian spacecraft meant to carry it through space stalled in Earth's orbit in 2011 and never left.</p><p>This time, China launched its own vehicle, aboard a Long March 5 rocket. It lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on July 23. That was one of a trio of Mars launches that occurred around the same time to take advantage of a window in which Earth and Mars pass close together, making the voyage shorter and cheaper. Seven months later, the Tianwen-1 spacecraft has completed its 300-million-mile journey.</p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/united-arab-emirates-hope-probe-reaches-mars-orbit-2021-2">The United Arab Emirates' Hope probe</a> beat Tianwen-1 to Mars - it fell into orbit around the red planet on Tuesday. That made the UAE the fifth nation ever to reach Mars, and China the sixth. The third Mars mission of the month, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-perseverance-rover-will-land-on-mars-2021-2">NASA's Perseverance rover</a>, is set to land there on February 18.</p><p>As Tianwen-1 circles the planet over the next three months, it will scope out its own landing site in Utopia Planitia - a vast field of ancient volcanic rock that could conceal liquid water deep below the surface. NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/8183/location-of-large-subsurface-water-ice-deposit-in-utopia-planitia-mars/">detected</a> an underground deposit of ice there that may hold as much water as Lake Superior.</p><p>Such underground reservoirs could be the remnants of an era billions of years ago, in which rivers flowed on Mars, supported by a much thicker and more protective atmosphere than the one that exists today. During that time, Mars somewhat resembled Earth, and scientists think it may have hosted alien microbial life. Any underground pockets of water are likely to be shielded from the sun's unfiltered radiation and the vacuum of space, so might still harbor such species - if they exist.</p><p>Knowing where to find water ice is also crucial for any future astronauts headed to Mars. Such interplanetary human missions will need water both to drink and to break down into oxygen and hydrogen - for breathing and rocket propellant. </p><p>The Tianwen-1 rover is poised to become the first robot on Mars' surface to seek out these water pockets, and the first to explore Utopia Planitia. But first it has to land safely.</p><h2>7 minutes of terror and 2 years in orbit</h2><p>Half of all the spacecraft humanity has tried to land on Mars never made it. Tianwen-1 will take on those odds in May, when the orbiter is supposed to <a href="http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6810856/content.html">drop the mission's lander-rover combo</a> down to the planet's surface. It will be a major test of China's aerospace engineering.</p><div type="image" title="china mars global remote sensing and small rover hx 1 martian mission illustration rendering cas xinhua" height="995" width="1327" msid="80790974" hostid="261"></div><p>Officials and engineers often call <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-nasa-perseverance-rover-will-land-on-mars-2021-2">the entry, descent, and landing phase</a> of a Mars mission "seven minutes of terror." That's because the feat requires a capsule that can protect a lander or rover (or both in China's case) as it plummets through the Martian atmosphere at temperatures exceeding 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. A supersonic parachute is needed to slow the fall, along with a set of thrusters to navigate along the way.</p><p>If that descent goes smoothly, the Tianwen-1 mission's lander will deploy a two-track ramp on which the rover will roll down onto Martian soil. The rover is set to explore the area for 90 Martian days, according to a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-020-1148-6?utm_medium=affiliate&amp;utm_source=commission_junction&amp;utm_campaign=3_nsn6445_deeplink_PID100052171&amp;utm_content=deeplink#author-information-information">journal article</a> by scientists on the Tianwen-1 team.</p><p>Meanwhile, the orbiter will continue circling the red planet for one Martian year (two Earths years), relaying data to Earth and taking photos. Its main goal, according to the scientists, is to "perform a global and extensive survey of the entire planet."</p><p>This will involve charting Mars' geology, surveying its climate, and measuring its electromagnetic and gravitational fields.</p>

China's ambitious Tianwen-1 Mars mission - involving an orbiter, lander, and rover - just reached the red planet

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="1334" type="COUNTRY" weightage="60" keywordseo="China">China</keyword>'s <keyword id="9109397" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tianwen-1">Tianwen-1</keyword> spacecraft has beamed back its first photo: a black-and-white snapshot of <keyword id="47638" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars">Mars</keyword>.</li><li>The probe is one of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/three-mars-missions-arrive-february-from-nasa-china-uae-2021-1">three Mars missions arriving at the planet this month</a>.</li><li>Tianwen-1 aims to deploy a radar-equipped <keyword id="155626" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Rover">rover</keyword> and seek underground water sources that may harbor alien microbes.</li></ul><p>China's first interplanetary probe is now so close to Mars that its camera can make out craters across the red planet's surface.</p><p>The Tianwen-1 spacecraft, a suite of robots launched by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in July, has spent the last six months speeding through space. At just 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) from its destination, the probe beamed back its very first photo: a black-and-white snapshot of Mars.</p><p>The CNSA released the picture on Friday. In a <a href="http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6811227/content.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a>, the agency said that the probe had fired an engine as part of its fourth "orbital correction," or adjustment of its path through space. Now Martian gravity should pull the mission into just the right orbit around the planet.</p><p>The five-ton probe is set to carry out a braking operation to slow its high-speed spaceflight and slip into orbit around Mars on February 10. Following that, the spacecraft will spend a couple months surveying a landing site at Utopia Planitia, a vast field of ancient volcanic rock.</p><p>The orbiter is supposed to drop a lander-rover combo to the planet's surface in May, the <a href="http://www.cnsa.gov.cn/english/n6465652/n6465653/c6810856/content.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNSA said</a>. If the rocket-powered descent goes smoothly, the lander will deploy a two-track ramp  for the rover to roll onto Martian soil. The rover's radar system will help Chinese researchers seek out underground pockets of liquid water. (The orbiter, meanwhile, will continue circling the red planet and relaying data to Earth.)</p><p>Such ancient water reservoirs could be remnants of a time billions of years ago when Mars flowed with rivers, courtesy of a much thicker and protective atmosphere than exists today. During this era, Mars somewhat resembled Earth, and scientists think it may have hosted alien microbial life. Any underground pockets of water, shielded from the sun's unfiltered radiation and the vacuum of space, might still harbor such species, if they exist.</p><p>If successful, Tianwen-1 will be the first <keyword id="164562" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mars-mission">Mars mission</keyword> to send a spacecraft into orbit, drop a landing platform, and deploy a rover all in one expedition. It will also mark China's first landing on another planet and help the nation prepare a future mission that might return a Martian rock or dirt sample to Earth in the late 2020s.</p><div type="image" title="china mars global remote sensing and small rover hx 1 martian mission illustration rendering cas xinhua" height="995" width="1327" msid="80712843" hostid="261"></div><p>As of Friday, the CNSA said Tianwen-1 is just about 1.1 million kilometers (680,000 miles) from its destination.</p><p>Two other missions which launched around the same time as Tianwen-1 - <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-first-interplanetary-helicopter-in-perseverance-mars-rover-belly-2020-7">NASA's Perseverance rover</a> and the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/3-misions-launching-to-mars-in-july-from-3-countries-2020-7">United Arab Emirates' Hope probe</a> - are also arriving at Mars in the next two weeks. All three missions are taking advantage of a window when Mars passes close to Earth, decreasing travel time and cost.</p><p>China attempted to send an orbiter to Mars in 2011, but the Russian spacecraft that was meant to carry it there <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-phobos-grunt-2011-11">stalled in Earth's orbit</a> and never left.</p><p>Tianwen-1 is the closest China has ever gotten to another planet. With luck - and the right engineering to weather a harrowing "<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-perseverance-rover-seven-minutes-terror-landing-video-2020-7">seven minutes of terror</a>" as it plunges toward Mars - it will reach the surface.</p>

China's new Mars probe took its first photo of the red planet as the mission prepares to make history

<ul class="summary-list"><li> European Union <keyword id="12754126" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="sanctions" source="Orion">sanctions</keyword> against <keyword id="11894337" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="russia" source="Orion">Russia</keyword> will likely delay launch of the ExoMars mission.</li><li>The <keyword id="11921802" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="european-space-agency" source="Orion">European Space Agency</keyword> and Russia's Roscosmos are responsible for key components of the mission.</li></ul><p>The European Space Agency said that a planned Russia-Europe mission to <keyword id="12055530" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="mars" source="Orion">Mars</keyword> scheduled for this summer is unlikely to proceed as a result of sanctions imposed by Western governments following the invasion of Ukraine.</p><p>European Union sanctions against Russia will likely delay the ExoMars mission, with the ESA <a href="https://www.esa.int/Newsroom/Press_Releases/ESA_statement_regarding_cooperation_with_Russia_following_a_meeting_with_Member_States_on_28_February_2022">saying in a statement</a> that it is abiding by the measures imposed against Russia that target everything from finance to technology.</p><p>"We deplore the human casualties and tragic consequences of the war in Ukraine," the ESA said. </p><p>"Regarding the ExoMars programme continuation, the sanctions and the wider context make a launch in 2022 very unlikely," it said. "ESA's Director General will analyse all the options and prepare a formal decision on the way forward by ESA Member States."</p><p>ESA told Insider that it could not comment further beyond what it said in its statement.</p><p>The head of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin, responded to the announcement, writing in Russian on <a href="https://twitter.com/Rogozin/status/1498333750496792578">his Twitter</a> and <a href="https://t.me/s/rogozin_do">Telegram channels:</a> "The European Space Agency, to spite the Russian grandmother, decided to freeze off her ears."</p><p>The ExoMars mission involves the launch of a robotic rover called Rosalind Franklin to explore the surface of Mars, a program the ESA had been working on alongside Roscosmos for the last 10 years, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/28/22955003/esa-exomars-roscosmos-rosalind-franklin-rover-red-planet">The Verge reported.</a> The first phase of the mission began in 2016, when the team launched a spacecraft and test lander. The spacecraft has since been orbiting Mars, but the <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2016/10/25/13407096/exomars-schiaparelli-lander-crash-mars-cause-software-esa">test lander crashed.</a></p><p>ESA and Roscosmos are responsible for key components of the current Rosalind Franklin rover mission, <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/28/22955003/esa-exomars-roscosmos-rosalind-franklin-rover-red-planet">according to The Verge.</a> The rover, designed to dig into Mars' surface to test for signs of life, was built by the ESA, while Russia has provided both the landing device and the rocket that will launch the mission.</p><p>ESA's announcement follows Russia's recent decision, in response to EU sanctions, to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/space/russia-soyuz-launches-european-spaceport-french-guiana-b2024998.html">suspend the launches</a> of its Soyuz rocket from Europe's spaceport in French Guiana, and withdraw its staff there. Russia is also pulling out from its <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2022/2/28/22955003/esa-exomars-roscosmos-rosalind-franklin-rover-red-planet">partnership with NASA</a> on a joint mission to Venus.</p><p>A delay to the ExoMars launch this summer could mean a considerable wait for the next opportunity. Missions to Mars are able to take place about once every two years, when conditions allow for craft to reach the Red Planet efficiently from Earth, the ESA says on its <a href="https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Human_and_Robotic_Exploration/Exploration/ExoMars/Steady_driving_towards_ExoMars_launch">website</a>. </p>

Planned Europe-Russia Mars mission is unlikely to launch this summer as a result of sanctions, space agency says

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0lwFLPiZEE">Lockheed Martin/YouTube</a></span></p><p class="caption">An illustration of NASA's InSight probe on the surface of Mars.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>NASA just successfully landed its <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa-insight-lander" target="_blank" rel="noopener">InSight robot</a> on the surface of Mars.</strong></li><li><strong>InSight won't move around <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/mars" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Mars</a>, but it will be the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-probe-mission-landing-goals-2018-11">first mission to take the red planet's temperature</a>.</strong></li><li><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/nasa" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NASA</a> will also <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-lander-2018-3">listen for Mars quakes</a> caused by meteorite impacts and tectonic movements. The vibrations could help decipher the interior structure of the planet.</strong></li><li><strong>Scientists hope InSight will help answer questions about how rocky planets become habitable (like Earth), or inhospitable (like Mars).</strong></li></ul><p>While online shoppers celebrated Cyber Monday deals, NASA researchers cheered the successful landing of a new probe on Mars.</p><p>The roughly $830 million mission is called <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-lander-2018-3">InSight</a> - short for "Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport."</p><p>NASA <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-video-show-blast-off-as-nasa-insight-probe-launches-to-mars-2018-5">rocketed</a> its 789-pound robot toward Mars on May 5, along with two briefcase-size satellites called MarsCubeOne that <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/planet-mars-image-nasa-marco-cubesat-2018-10">trailed the spacecraft</a> to help record and relay crucial landing data.</p><p>InSight completed a <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-insight-mars-mission-landing-when-what-time-2018-11">treacherous 14-minute-long descent</a> to the Martian surface around 2:54 p.m. ET on Monday, then confirmed its safe arrival with a beep - a moment that sent scientists and engineers jumping and screaming for joy in mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.</p><p>Today's Mars landing was the first since the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nuclear-powered-spacecraft-nasa-history-2017-3">nuclear-powered</a> Curiosity rover reached the red planet's surface more than six years ago.</p><p><em><strong>Read more</strong>: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-facts-statistics-2017-5">13 incredible facts you probably didn't know about Mars</a></em></p><p>Now that NASA has a new high-tech robot on the Martian surface, planetary scientists are eager to put InSight to work. But they'll have to wait until Monday night to know for sure that InSight is healthy.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"We're going to kick up a lot of dust when we land, and we need to let that dust settle before we want to unfurl our solar arrays," <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/people/info.cfm?id=22920">Tom Hoffman</a>, the InSight mission's payload manager, said during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGD_YF64Nwk">live broadcast</a> by NASA. "We're 100% solar-powered, so it's very important that we get those out."</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">NASA expects to confirm the solar panels are deployed around 8:30 p.m. EST. Assuming all goes well, the spacecraft will be poised to probe Mars over the next two Earth years in ways researchers had only dreamed about.</span></p><p>"InSight's a very different mission in the sense that it is peering into the past by studying, really, the interior of Mars," <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/braun_bio.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Robert Braun</a>, NASA's former chief technologist and a technical consultant for National Geographic's "Mars" series, previously told Business Insider. "In doing so, we're going to learn about Mars, but also about the early history of the Earth."</p><p>Here's what NASA hopes to discover with InSight now that the probe has arrived safely.</p><h2>Why NASA landed InSight on a flat Martian plain</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA22743">NASA/JPL-Caltech</a></span></p><p class="caption">A simulation of Elysium Planitia on Mars.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>InSight landed on Mars at a place known as <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/timeline/prelaunch/landing-site-selection/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Elysium Planitia</a>. It's a relatively flat region that's free of boulders, craters, and other potentially mission-ending obstacles.</p><p>The location might seem boring - certainly compared to the ancient mountain that Curiosity is now climbing - but researchers say InSight is well positioned to pull off an unprecedented scientific mission.</p><p>Elysium Planitia sits just north of Martian equator, where the sun's rays are relatively strong year-round. Using two circular solar panels to capture that free energy, InSight could operate for two Earth years (or one Martian year).</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/timeline/prelaunch/landing-site-selection/">NASA; Business Insider</a></span></p><p class="caption">NASA landed its InSight robot at Elysium Planitia near the Martian equator.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>That's a huge difference from InSight's nearly identical predecessor mission, the Phoenix Mars Lander.</p><p>Phoenix landed in 2008 and dug for water ice near Mars' north pole. But the robot died after a few months because sunlight was too feeble to warm its electronics.</p><p>InSight is equipped with different scientific instruments from Phoenix, though, and researchers think the soil at Elysium Planitia will be loose enough to allow the robot to pound a heat probe deep into the ground.</p><p>This will help InSight perform the first-ever "<a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/mission/science/overview/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">checkup</a>" of the 4.6-billion-year-old planet.</p><p>"InSight's goal is to study the interior of Mars and take the planet's vital signs, its pulse, and temperature," NASA says on its mission <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/timeline/landing/summary/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">website</a>. "To look deep into Mars, the lander must be at a place where it can stay still and quiet for its entire mission. That's why scientists chose Elysium Planitia as InSight's home."</p><h2>Probing the ancient secrets of Mars - and Earth, too</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://images.nasa.gov/details-PIA16078.html">NASA/JPL</a></span></p><p class="caption">A cutaway illustration showing what scientists think the interior of Mars might look like.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The InSight mission's ultimate goal is to figure out how Mars formed and what happened to the planet since then. Scientists know that Mars once generated an atmosphere-protecting magnetic dynamo, as Earth still does today. But the Martian core's dynamo eventually shut down and the planet's protective shield faded, which allowed the sun to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-mars-lost-water-atmosphere-solar-wind-2015-11">blow away Mars' atmosphere</a> and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mars-ocean-mega-tsunami-surface-2016-5">oceans of water</a>.</p><p>Now that InSight is powered up and in touch with Earth, it will use its robotic arm to pluck a dome-shaped instrument off of its landing platform and gently place it on the Martian surface. The dome contains six sensitive vibration-detection devices called seismometers.</p><p>Seismometers on Earth and the moon (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/apollo-moon-landing-photos-nasa-1969-2018-7">Apollo astronauts deployed some on the lunar surface</a>) have recorded earthquakes and moon quakes, which have helped scientists figure out the internal structure of those rocky worlds. On Mars, NASA researchers hope to accomplish a similar feat: listening for Mars quakes.</p><p>Whenever a meteorite strikes Mars, or there's a landslide, or a big blob of magma suddenly shifts, or there's tectonic movement, InSight's seismometer should detect such vibrations. The devices can even record seismic activity from all the way across the planet.</p><p>Over time, data about Mars quakes could reveal hitherto unknown information about the internal structure of the planet.</p><p>The other device InSight will deploy is a <a href="https://theoatmeal.com/comics/insight" target="_blank" rel="noopener">mole-like</a> heat probe. The 6.5-lb probe will <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/insight/spacecraft/instruments/hp3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hammer itself</a> into the soil, stopping every so often to heat up. An onboard sensor will then detect how long it takes that warmth to dissipate.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>NASA/JPL-Caltech</span></p><p class="caption">An artist illustration of the InSight lander on Mars.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The probe is expected to dig 16 feet down - far deeper than any previous Mars mission has ever reached with scoops, shovels, or drills.</p><p>"When we get down that deep, we'll get away from all of the temperature variations of the surface," Suzanne Smrekar, the mission's deputy principle investigator, said during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz4f7zlGETI" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press briefing</a> in October. "That tells us about the heat coming out of the planet - that energy that's available for driving geologic activity."</p><p>The data will help Smrekar and others calculate how quickly energy in Mars' core can escape - the equivalent of taking the planet's temperature.</p><p>Such warmth is left over from Mars' formation some 4.6 billion years ago, though it also comes from the decay of radioactive elements. These measurements are critical for decoding the red planet's past, as well as that of Earth's and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-space-telescope-tess-searches-for-alien-planets-2018-8">other rocky planets</a>. That's because heat flow from the core can help drive plate tectonics, a factor believed to <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/goldilocks-exoplanet-habitability-internal-heat-2016-8">separate habitable worlds from dead ones</a>.</p><p>Researchers can also use the data to figure out whether underground <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martian-oasis-water-extraterrestrial-life-2017-5">pools of warm water</a> could exist on Mars. Such pools, if present, may support <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/martian-oasis-water-extraterrestrial-life-2017-5">microbial alien life</a> (and provide <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/astronaut-plants-air-food-water-life-support-2018-5">rich targets</a> for future astronaut missions).</p><p>Back on the surface, InSight will also use a sensitive radio <keyword id="41551" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="100" keywordseo="science">science</keyword> experiment to see how subtly Mars wobbles during its orbit around the sun, which takes about two Earth years. This data should tell researchers what is going on in the deepest parts of the planet's core.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://images.nasa.gov/details-NHQ201810310005.html">NASA/Bill Ingalls</a></span></p><p class="caption">The lead scientist on the InSight mission to Mars, Bruce Banerdt, speaks during a press conference on October 31, 2018.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In probing Mars' history, scientists think we're bound to learn about our own planet's origins.</p><p>"Earth ... is a big planet that holds a lot of heat, a lot of energy, and it's been very geologically active over its entire history. So most of the record of the early processes that formed the Earth have been erased," <a href="https://mars.nasa.gov/people/info.cfm?id=22920" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tom Hoffman</a>, the InSight mission's payload manager, said during NASA's October press briefing. "We'd like to have a planet that's just a little bit calmer and that can retain that that evidence."</p><p>This makes sedate Mars, which is similar to Earth but has remained almost frozen in time, the perfect place to go looking.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-mars-landing-super-hard-insight-curiosity-mars2020-2018-11">Why Mars is the hardest planet to land on in our solar system</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

You Searched For "mars mission" and got 10 results

The truth of ISRO's Mangalyaan which Akshay Kumar's Mission Mangal could miss

Prabhjote Gill

Space Scientist Expresses Confidence Of Mangalyaan’s Success

BI India Bureau

NASA detects a quake on Mars for the very first time — using sound

Prabhjote Gill

China just launched an ambitious Mars mission that could be its first to reach the red planet — and make it just the third nation to explore the Martian surface

Dave Mosher

China launches first Mars mission

PTI

China's ambitious Tianwen-1 Mars mission - involving an orbiter, lander, and rover - just reached the red planet

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

China's new Mars probe took its first photo of the red planet as the mission prepares to make history

Morgan McFall-Johnsen

Planned Europe-Russia Mars mission is unlikely to launch this summer as a result of sanctions, space agency says

Urooba Jamal

NASA's new Mars mission just landed - and it could reveal why Earth is habitable but the red planet is not

Dave Mosher

Colonising Mars — Four space missions that will explore Earth’s closest neighbour to see if it can one day support human life

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