News hardware Conquest of Mars: China wants to overtake the USA and Europe
Published on 06/28/2022 at 17:05
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NASA (USA) and ESA (Europe) aim to bring Martian rocks back to Earth in 2033. But China has every intention of grilling them, doing the same as early as 2031. Martian conquest is more topical than ever.
Summary
Bring back samples of Mars, the new star race
Two years ahead for China?
Ambitions that are not without risk
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For several decades now, Mars has been at the center of all attention regarding the exploration of the planet and the search for traces of life on its soil. If missions have been carried out with more or less success (and especially failures, at the beginning) since the 1960s, the early 2000s marked a significant turning point in the exploration of the red planet. Indeed, in 2004, NASA managed to land two rovers on Mars: Spirit, then Opportunity, which made it possible to discover unpublished photos of the places, but also to collect and analyze precious samples of Martian rocks.
In 2012, NASA repeated the operation by allowing the Curiosity rover to land on Mars. Perseverance is the last NASA robot to arrive on Mars, in 2021. The missions of these different rovers vary, but overall they aim tocarry out on-site surveys to look for traces of lifeand to learn more and more about the planet.
However, until then, no sample collected on site has ever left Mars. The rovers that are “deposited” on the surface of the planet are not intended to leave it: they have a limited lifespan. Opportunity, for example, “lived” on Mars for 5351 sols, the equivalent of 15 Earth years: it was a giant sandstorm that sealed its fate.
Bring back samples of Mars, the new star race
NASA no longer wants to simply analyze Martian rock samples remotely. American scientists, but also those of the ESA, now want to be able to study them on Earth, with more precision. The reason is simple: before considering sending men to Mars by 2040, it is necessary to know precisely what they will set foot ons, especially since the Martian soil is probably not very welcoming. Martian dust is said to be very toxic to humans, in addition to being a powerful mechanical oxidant.