Mars had been growing in the last couple years and is now at it biggest and brightest! This tuesday we see a moment called oppositon which is when Mars will line up on the same side of the Sun so that Earth, Sun and Mars will be in a line and move closer together, then seperate into their own orbits around the Sun. The seperation between Earth and Mars is 38,568,243 miles which is the clostest they have been in this 26-month cycle. Scientist say thats the narrowest gap now until 2035.
It's around the opposition time that space probes are launched from Earth to Mars, The reason for that is the distance between the two will be signicanely less during oppositon, conversing energy and resources. There are three missions currently in transit, all were sent in July: The United Arab Emirates' Hope orbiter; China's Tianwen orbiter and rover;and the Americans' PErseverance rover. Europe and Russia had planed to despactch ExoMars "Rosalind Franklin" rover too but they missed the lauch window and will now hace to wait until late 2022. A big penalty to pay when the planets allign every 26 months. Hope, Tianwen and PErserverance are all on course hit Mars by February.
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