July 2020 launch window is crucial for UAE Mars mission

Launching the first Arab probe to Mars in July 2020 to reach the planet by 2021 is crucial as missing this ‘launch window' will set back the mission for another two years.

His Highness s Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the first Arab probe to Mars will create mankind's first integrated model of the Red Planet's atmosphere.

Omran Sharaf, Emirates Mars Mission Project Manager, said in a video of the Emirates Mars Mission launched recently that the orbiter needs to arrive at Mars by 2021 in time for the UAE'S 50th founding anniversary. In order to do that, the mission should be launched by July 2020.

"We have to be ready to launch by then. There is no second chance. It's a race against time,” Sharaf said in the video.

But how crucial is this launch window to meet the 2021 target?

"The ‘launch window' relates to the fact that Earth completes its orbit around the Sun in 12 months, while Mars does that in 22.6 months, roughly twice that of Earth. So the two planets come close to each other roughly once every two years,” Dr Nidhal Guessoum, an astrophysicist and professor of physics and astronomy at the American University of Sharjah, told Gulf News.

"So if we want to send a spacecraft to Mars and we want the trip to be short(est), we need to launch at or near those proximity points/times,” Dr Guessoum added.

This coming together of the two planets is known as the Mars Opposition. It happens when the sun and Mars sandwich the Earth, forming nearly a straight line. It happens every 26 months, with the last one happening in April last year.

Two more Mars Oppositions are scheduled to happen in 2016 and 2018 before the October 13, 2020 Mars Opposition.

The distance between Earth and Mars varies according to their orbital position, but the average distance is 225 million kilometres. The 2020 Mars Opposition is like a ‘shortcut' to Mars, albeit not literally, cutting the distance down to 62.1 million kilometres.

"The ideal time to launch a space probe to Mars is some time before this opposition and the probe is expected to reach Mars after the opposition period. This window is crucial because this window is for a short period and comes once in two years, which makes it the most practical [and economical] time to send a probe to Mars,” Hassan Ahmad Al Hariri, chief executive of the Dubai Astronomy Group, told Gulf News.

Al Hariri said the window is from July lasting maximum until September 2020.

"If that, too, is missed then the next opportunity would arise in September 2022,” Al Hariri said.

The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre, tasked with undertaking the mission, has roughly five years to design, plan, execute, test and ready the spacecraft by July 2020.

Dr Guessoum said five years is a challenge as missions like this usually take longer to prepare, plan and execute. But he has full confidence that the UAE will make it.

Al Hariri said: "The UAE isn't developing everything from scratch as they have the know-how and experience of different international universities as part of this project. So it is safe to say that the time allotted for this programme is sufficient.”
Source: Gulf News