This Sunday evening, if all goes well, the rocket will rise in the sky at 11.58 p.m. Paris time and will propel its precious load, the Hope probe, towards the red planet, after several postponements due to bad weather. It is a great day and a historic first for the United Arab Emirates, only fifty years after the creation of the country. But the takeoff of Hope will also mark the start of a peloton race unprecedented in the history of space exploration: no less than three different missions are targeting Mars this summer. The Emirates leave first, followed by China on July 23, then by the United States on Thursday 30. Besides the Russian-European mission, which was to be part of the lot but was shifted to 2022 due to pandemic.
Artist’s impression of the United Arab Emirates’ Hope probe around Mars. Image Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre
In the wake of the pioneers
It is long overdue for NASA to return to Mars. Its mission M
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