 "mars mission")
The videos of Nasa’s Perseverance landing on Mars were going viral when news came in that the United Arab Emirates’s Hope Mission was on schedule. China’s Mars Tianwen-1 Mission also went into orbit at the same time.
The timing is not a coincidence. It’s driven by celestial mechanics. At their closest, the Earth (third planet from the Sun) and Mars (fourth planet) are “merely” 56-65 million km apart. They are more than 400 mn km away from each other at their furthest. Efficient spaceflight equals minimum energy consumption. There is a narrow window every 26 months for Mars missions. Hence, the
