The invasion of Mars

Humans have always been curious to find out what the planet holds. Starting with the ancients who followed the planets from the ground, and ending with spaceships floating on the surface of the planets. First episode in the series

For many generations, the Red Planet fascinated humans, who dreamed and hoped to discover signs of life on it. From the ancients who saw the movement of the red planet in the night sky and attributed mysterious properties to it, to the scientists of today, who examine its face using spacecrafts that circle it at a height of hundreds of kilometers and by means of robots traveling on its dusty surface - it seems that no human being remains indifferent to the sky This, the fourth planet from the sun. Fifty years ago, with the beginning of the space age, scientists and technicians from the Soviet Union and the United States began to launch research spacecraft towards Mars.

In the first years, most of the missions ended in failure, however, with the development of the technology of space flights, precise navigation, an increase in the reliability of the launchers and the components of the spacecraft themselves, more and more spacecraft began to carry out their missions successfully, which increased from mission to mission. So, for example, while you are reading these lines, two vehicles controlled from Earth are moving on the surface of Mars, three American spacecraft are working to map and photograph Mars from an altitude of hundreds of kilometers, and a European spacecraft is also circling it and sending us images of the highest quality. New spacecraft are being built, more advanced robots are taking shape in various laboratories around the world, and one can already see signs - which will only materialize in about twenty years - for manned research of the Red Planet. In this article, a brief historical overview of Mars research using spacecraft will be given, and the main projects in Mars research for the coming years will be examined.

first steps

Missions to Mars posed a challenge to the first space powers, the Soviet Union and the United States, even at the beginning of space flights. Both countries have made many attempts to reach Mars and photograph it up close. A significant part of these Genesis missions ended in failure: some of the spacecraft did not come close to Mars at all, others failed to enter the coffee orbit around it, and a number of spacecraft that were planned to land on the surface of Mars crashed on it or burned up in its atmosphere, due to entry at an inappropriate angle. The Russians claimed the first place in putting a spacecraft into orbit around Mars, and even the first soft landing on its surface. The Soviet Union launched two research spacecraft to Mars in October 1960, but neither of them managed to reach space due to launcher malfunctions.

Three more launches were made in 1962, without success. Additional Soviet missions to Mars were carried out in 1963 and 1964 (one spacecraft each year), in 1969 (2 spacecraft), in 1971 (3 spacecraft), and in 1973 (4 spacecraft) - none of them succeeded in their mission (some of the spacecraft passed by Mars and managed to transmit some photographs). Most of these spacecraft were also fitted with landing assemblies, designed to explore the surface of Mars. At the same time as the Soviet Union, the United States operated its own research program for Mars, using the Mariner series of spacecraft. In 1964, the United States launched two Mariner spacecraft (Mariner 3 and 4) to Mars. These were spacecraft designed to pass by Mars, take pictures and make various measurements - such as of the magnetic field - without attempting to put them into orbit around Mars. Mariner 3 was not able to free itself from the rocket it was carrying outside the Earth, while Mariner 4 was able to pass by Mars and carry out its mission. Mariner 6 and 7 were launched in 1969, and managed to enter the coffee orbit around Mars. Another pair, Mariner 8 and 9, was launched in 1971, but only Mariner 9 managed to reach Mars on the exact course it was set for. However, the mission ended in disappointment, because when the spacecraft came close to Mars, huge dust storms erupted on its surface, which did not allow the spacecraft's cameras to transmit useful information to Earth.

The first period of exploration of Mars by means of spacecraft lasted a little more than a decade, and its failures outnumbered its successes. It must be remembered, however, that at that time the reliability of the launchers of the Soviet Union and the United States was significantly lower than what is customary nowadays. Navigating a spacecraft to a distance of tens of millions of kilometers was complex and complicated, and many components in the spacecraft themselves failed after a relatively long stay in space. A significant part of these problems has been solved, so that period can be called the "learning period". The second phase of research spacecraft, during the 20s and XNUMXs, was characterized by higher success rates and much more complex space missions.

The invasion of Mars

Humans have always been curious to find out what the planet holds. Starting with the ancients who followed the planets from the ground, and ending with spaceships floating on the surface of the planets. Second episode in the Tal Inbar series

At the beginning of the article we followed the first steps of space exploration. Now we will deal with the American Viking mission, the new discoveries of the 21st century and the age of mobile robots.

Viking, a mission worthy of special mention by two American research spacecraft, which included an orbital component and a lander component. Viking spacecraft were the first American spacecraft to successfully land on Mars. The spacecraft, which landed on Mars in 1976, conducted a series of experiments whose purpose was to determine whether microorganisms exist on the surface of Mars. Sophisticated laboratories were installed inside the landing spacecraft, which were designed to test whether living organisms, which maintain metabolism, were found in the soil samples introduced into the spacecraft by a mechanical arm.

Inside the automated laboratories, water was brought from Earth, organic materials and even an imitation of the Martian atmosphere, which included carbon dioxide, the carbon in which is radioactively labeled. The goal was to examine metabolic activity in the Martian soil samples. Although the experiment was carried out in both spacecraft several times, the results did not reveal that there are microorganisms of any kind on Mars. Since the landing of the Viking spacecraft on Mars, there has been much criticism of the experiments and their planning, and from the other past there are researchers who believe that the experiments of the spacecraft revealed that there is indeed activity that can be attributed to the presence of primitive life forms on Mars.

During the eighties and nineties of the 20th century, several missions were launched to Mars, and most of them ended in failure. In 1988, the Soviet Union returned to its attempts to launch research spacecraft to Mars. Two spacecraft - Phobos 1 and Phobos 2 - were launched towards Mars, and both failed. The Phobos 1 spacecraft was lost en route to Mars while the Phobos 2 spacecraft, which also included a lander, was lost near the Martian moon Phobos. In 1992, the United States launched a large and very expensive research spacecraft (over a billion dollars at the time), called Mars Observer. A very short time before the spacecraft was put into orbit around Mars, contact with it was lost for a reason that is still unknown. The mission of this spacecraft was to photograph the surface of Mars in high resolution.

In 1996, the launch of a Russian spacecraft called Mars 96, which included, for the first time ever, a balloon designed to explore the Martian environment, failed. The Mars 96 spacecraft was launched into space using a heavy proton-type launcher, but a malfunction in the upper stage of the launcher prevented it from reaching orbit, and it fell and crashed on Earth. A bright spot in the chain of failures can be seen in the American spacecraft Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). This spacecraft was active around Mars until 2007 and transmitted more images to Earth than all the Mars exploration spacecraft combined. This spacecraft was the first to detect from hundreds of kilometers above the surface of Mars NASA's research robots, Spirit and Opportunity, which landed in 2004. At the beginning of 2007 contact with this spacecraft was lost.

In 1998, the first Japanese spacecraft was launched to explore Mars, named Nozomi. Due to problems with the spacecraft's fuel system and navigation system, this spacecraft failed and did not enter orbit around Mars. Three American failures sealed the fourth decade of Mars exploration by spacecraft. The Mars Climate Orbiter spacecraft failed because there was a conflict between the Earth Control Center's software, which was still working in inches and feet, and the spacecraft, which had already switched to working in the metric system. When the signal was given to activate the spacecraft's braking engine and lower its trajectory, the command was carried out, but with values ​​2.5 times higher than those provided by the control center. As a result the spacecraft entered the Martian atmosphere and burned up. In the same year, another American spacecraft named the Mars Polar Lander failed to land a soft landing. The reason for the failure of this spacecraft is unknown. This spacecraft carried 2 small landing craft with it, which were also lost.

Mars exploration in the 21st century

The alignment of the planets, Earth and Mars creates every two years a good opportunity to launch spacecraft from Earth to Mars. It should not be surprising that the United States tries, starting in 1997, to launch research spacecraft to Mars every two years. Mars Odyssey, launched in 2001, was the first American spacecraft to reach Mars after a long hiatus. It is a research and photography spacecraft that orbits Mars at an altitude of hundreds of kilometers and transmits very high resolution images of the Martian surface to Earth. Two years later, the two spacecraft that landed the Spirit and Opportunity robotic vehicles that landed in 2004 were launched to Mars.

In the same year, 2004, a European spacecraft reached Mars for the first time. The spacecraft was called Mars Express, and was used as a high-quality photography satellite of Mars. This spacecraft continues to operate to this day, transmitting a wealth of valuable scientific data. Along with this spacecraft, a British-designed landing spacecraft called Beagle 2 arrived on Mars. This spacecraft was supposed to land on the surface of Mars and conduct geological studies, however, since the small Beagle 2 spacecraft separated from the Mars Express spacecraft on the way to landing on Mars, contact with it was lost, and it is assumed that the spacecraft crashed during the landing. In 2, the American Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) began operating, joining the Mars Odyssey spacecraft in exploring Mars from its orbital altitude (about 2006 km).

We saw, therefore, that even with the advancement of the technology of launching and navigating in space, missions to Mars are still at a high level of risk compared to research spacecraft that are in the Earth's environment. Dangers of various kinds can damage spacecraft flying to Mars, including intense solar storms, which launch into space a stream of charged particles with high energy - as happened to the Japanese spacecraft Nozomi. Such a flow of particles is capable of causing many malfunctions in the electronic systems inside the spacecraft.

The age of mobile robots

The first mission in which a robotic vehicle was placed on Mars was the Pathfinder mission, which landed on Mars on July 4.7.1997, 21. It was the first landing on Mars since the Viking spacecraft, which landed on Mars 50 years earlier. This mission was the first to fulfill the vision of the head of NASA at the time, Daniel Goldin: smaller, faster, cheaper. For comparison - the mission, including research and development, launch, operation of the spacecraft and data analysis - cost about a tenth of a single Viking spacecraft. For the first time, a soft landing was carried out, that is, a gentle landing that allows the spacecraft and the instruments inside to land without damage on the surface of Mars, with the help of an innovative braking system based on the inflation of airbags. After the spacecraft landed on Mars, its packaging was opened and a small robot, only about XNUMX cm long, came out. The vehicle was equipped with six wheels, each with a separate engine. The arrangement of the wheels gave him good offense. The robot performed several geological research missions, and was equipped with cameras, a laser rangefinder and a device for examining the chemical composition of Martian rocks at the landing site. Since this mission was experimental in nature, the robot did not stray far from the lander, which also served as a relay station to transmit the data from Mars to Earth.

Spirit and Opportunity Spirit and Opportunity are two robots that are the biggest success story to date of exploring Mars using spacecraft and robots. The mission included launching two identical spacecraft to Mars, with each of them carrying a larger and more sophisticated robot than NASA's first robot, which was launched to Mars in 1997. The missions were launched in June and July 2003, and reached Mars in January 2004. These missions were supposed to operate for 3 months, but it turned out that all the robot systems functioned properly and well, far beyond the most optimistic predictions of NASA personnel. Therefore, the robots' mission was repeatedly extended, and as of the time of writing this article, both continue to function properly, almost 3 and a half years after their landing on Mars.

The two robots are like geologists who have raised the surface of Mars and are learning about its history. The spaceship that brought the robot Spirit landed it in an area where in the distant past there was an intense flood, which caused a large drift of rocks from different sources and types. These rocks are explored by Spirit. The other robot, Opportunity, landed in an area that NASA officials speculated once had large bodies of water. It turned out that the robot Opportunity landed in an area that used to be a shallow sea on the surface of Mars. This robot discovered, among other things, evidence of sedimentary rocks on Mars - an important discovery, as it was a confirmation of the hypothesis that in the past there were large bodies of water on Mars.

The second part