Since the 1960s, numerous spacecraft have whizzed past Mars or entered its orbit. Additionally, rovers and landers have touched down on its surface. As Hays watched a large flying saucer land in Utah last year, she thought of her ambitious Mars Sample Return mission – MSR for short – which involves collecting samples from Mars…
Scientists planning missions to Mars typically select launch times so as to maximize fuel savings – typically when Mars and Earth are closest together in orbit. Plans must also include where and how the craft should land; typically this involves selecting an area with flat, low-lying terrain that will minimize risk from landing on rough…
Every year, Earth and Mars align in the sky, offering space agencies an ideal opportunity to launch probes to investigate this red planet. In 1996, Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor missions demonstrated airbag landing techniques suitable for larger rovers. Mars Pathfinder featured several experiments like camera mast, weather station and high gain antenna that…
An interplanetary mission to the Moon requires being able to escape Earth’s gravity well, which requires a very large rocket and is therefore very costly. NASA’s planned round-the-moon mission Artemis, scheduled for 2024, will use their Space Launch System megarocket and be led by four astronauts: Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen…
All spacecraft require propulsion methods to adjust their velocity. Most propulsion systems possess high specific impulse – that is, how quickly their speed changes per unit of propellant consumed – and are relatively energy efficient. Earth lies deep within a gravitational well, taking 11.2 km/s to escape its gravitational pull; humans can endure much greater…
