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Please explain: why are we sending missions to Mars? – Macquarie University
Associate Professor Craig O’Neill, from Macquarie University’s Department of Earth and Environmental Science, explains.
The short answer to why we are sending missions to the red planet is summed up in the word ‘hope’. Hope is the English translation of Al-Amal – the name of the United Arab Emirates’ historic space mission. Their probe successfully launched from Japan on 19 July and is now on a seven-month long, 500 million kilometre flight to Mars.
New frontier: An artists’ impression of the Hope probe orbiting Mars. Image credit: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre
The UAE probe won’t land on Mars but will orbit…
