Mars Mission 2021 by USA, China, and UAE
                     MARS MISSION 
2021 BY USA, 
CHINA, AND UAE
INTRODUCTION
• Three separate missions to Mars 
launched by the United States, China and 
the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will all 
reach their destination this month after 
taking flight within just 11 days of each 
other in 2020.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
AIM OF THE 
MISSION
• The uncrewed missions promise to yield 
new insights for Earth-bound scientists 
intent on unravelling the mysteries of the 
solar system and scanning Mars for signs 
of extraterrestrial life.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
GEOPOLITICAL 
SPACE
• Mars ventures are also the latest 
landmark in the new geopolitical space 
race, say experts, as the world’s most 
powerful nations once again compete 
with one another for dominance beyond 
Earth’s surface.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
FOCUS OF INDIVIDUAL 
MISSION
• The US and Chinese missions, which come 
against the backdrop of an intensifying 
geopolitical rivalry between the two 
nations, include plans to land exploratory 
rovers on Mars, while the UAE is focused 
on surveying it from above via an orbiter.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
THE UAE’S GREAT 
SPACE ‘HOPE’
• Named Al Amal, the Arabic word for 
“hope”, the UAE Space Agency’s probe 
represents its first foray into space.
• Al Amal will spend 687 days a period 
equivalent to one year on Mars
Source: www.aljazeera.com
HOPE’S MISSION
• For about six years, Hope’s mission team 
of roughly 450 people have been 
designing and testing the Hope 
spacecraft. 
• The program has a $200 million budget 
from the Mohammed bin Rashid Space 
Centre.
Source: www. theverge.com
CHINA’S TIANWEN-1 
SPACECRAFT 
• China’s Tianwen-1 spacecraft will reach 
Mars a day later on February 10th. 
• The five-ton spacecraft will hang out in 
Martian orbit to survey the Utopia 
Planitia region, where a large deposit of 
water ice lies beneath the planet’s 
surface.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
THE ROVER
• The rover carries a suite of instruments to 
detect deposits of subsurface water ice, 
which scientists believe could hold signs 
of microbial life. 
Source: www.aljazeera.com
DEPLOY A LANDER 
AND ROVER
• Three months later, in May, Tianwen-1 
will deploy a lander and rover bundled 
together for a landing at Utopia Planitia.
• It is a daring attempt to become the 
second country to land and operate a 
rover on the Martian surface.
Source: www.aljazeera.com
NASA’S PROBE
• NASA’s six-wheeled Perseverance rover is 
set to touch down on February 18 near 
the equatorial Jezero Crater. 
• Weighing 1,025kg the nuclear-powered 
and car-sized Perseverance is the most 
sophisticated explorer ever dispatched to 
another planet.
• It will spend at least as long as two Earth 
years on Mars, collecting information and, 
crucially, samples from its rocks and soil.
Source: www.aljazeera.com