There are many missions in orbit around Mars or on its surface. Our neighbor is the most scrutinized planet in the Solar System and for the past year, the Hope probe from the United Arab Emirates has been part of it. Closely scrutinizing its atmosphere, it provides us with images of the Martian globe and its changes in weather.
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[EN VIDÉO] Ingenuity’s historic flight to Mars Monday, April 19, 2021 will be remembered as the day when Ingenuity, a motorized and controlled craft, flew into the atmosphere of a planet other than our Earth for the very first time. Mars. And this video taken by the Perseverance rover, posted some 65 meters away, immortalized the moment. We discover NASA’s Martian helicopter rising about 3 meters above the ground of the red planet before landing about thirty seconds later. © NASA, JPL-Caltech, ASU, MSSS
On February 9, it will be a year since the first space probe from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to explore Mars was successful insertion into orbit around the planet. Hope (Al Hamal in Arabic) had left the Earth during the summer of 2020, at the same period as the American and Chinese missions, namely respectively Perseverance (and Ingenuity with him) and Tianwen-1and this, thanks to the opposition of Mars (it was in October), which had the objective of reducing the path between our two planets.
A view of Mars’ north polar region made from image data acquired with the EXI camera aboard UAE’s @HopeMarsMission orbiter on May 24, 2021. The water ice polar cap is surrounded by an extended but receding region of carbon dioxide ice in the late Martian spring. pic.twitter.com/Sp0p6Pa2R7
—Jason Major (@JPMajor) February 3, 2022
During the months following his arrival, the probe of theUAE space Agency conducted his research on the very fine atmosphere of the Red Planetin many wavelengths, through its three instruments, with the main aim of creating the first global image ever made. A first version should be unveiled in the coming days, the mission’s researchers announced. Hope, who has already added several pieces to the puzzle of understandingatmosphere very tenuous of Mars by highlighting delicate and very ” discreet dawns », aims to shed light on the question of the meteorology Mars, its changes over time seasonsinteractions with the solar windthe erosion of the atmosphere and the escape of its gases into space.
Stunning images of Mars
While waiting for these first maps and the more complete and interactive versions to follow, many planetary image enthusiasts have flocked to the data revealed by the EMM Space Agency (Emirates Mars Mission). Images that they processed with enthusiasm, without counting the time spent. Their results are spectacular.
Mars may be an arid and desert planet, there is no room for boredom when you travel through these landscapes shaped by giant volcanoesofancient riversimpacts of meteorites, etc — a remark that applies to the detailed images of the Martian surface provided by the probe MRO of the Nasa. We see Mars turning purple or veiling itself under a wash of mist according to the seasons. In one Earth year, Hope has so far only been able to see almost two seasons in each hemisphere. Observation and measurements continue (Hope’s position around Mars live).
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