Four more Mars probes to be launched in July 2020

Four probes destined for Mars are due to be launched in July next year on missions expected to improve scientist's understanding of Earth's closest neighbor in the solar system, reports Science and Technology Daily.

The clustered launches of the probes is in part because the best period to launch spacecraft to Mars comes only once every 26 months, when the Earth and Mars are on the same side of the sun, according to the report.

Photo provided by NASA of an artist's rendering of the Mars 2020 rover, which will collect rocks to be brought back to Earth. [Photo: IC]

The Mars 2020 probe developed by NASA is due to be launched on July 17, 2020. It is expected to land on Mars on February 2021 and work for at least one Martian year, which is 687 Earth days. It will search for traces of life, and conduct experiments to make oxygen using the atmosphere on Mars, one of the key tasks for future explorers. It will also carry a small drone helicopter that will help to expand the range of rovers.

A model of the ExoMars 2020 Kazachok landing platform is on display the day before the opening of the 2019 Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport on June 16, 2019. [Photo: IC]

Another probe that will look for signs of life on Mars will be the Rosalind Franklin rover, due to be launched by European and Russian scientists on July 25, 2020. The rover is named after the female scientist Rosalind Franklin, whose work helped to uncover the structure of DNA. The six-wheeled Rosalind Franklin, currently being built in Britain, will carry scientific equipment including a camera and radar. The rover is part of the Exo Mars project, which also includes an orbiter and a lander. However, the mission to send the orbiter and lander failed in 2016.

A model of China’s Mars rover is on display at the China International Industry Fair on November 4, 2014. [Photo: IC]

China's upcoming Mars mission will also begin in July 2020. Its Mars probe will consist of a satellite, a lander, and a rover. At 240 kilograms, the solar-powered rover is about twice the weight of China's moon rover, Yutu. The probe is awaiting its launch atop a Long March 5 series rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province.

Sarah Amiri, Deputy Project Manager of a planned United Arab Emirates Mars mission talks about the project named "Hope" which is scheduled to be launched in 2020, during a ceremony in Dubai, UAE, Wednesday, May 6, 2015. [Photo: IC]

The forth probe is for the United Arab Emirates Hope Mars Mission, which is due to be launched in mid-July 2020 from Japan's Tanegashima Space Center by a H-2A rocket. It will study the Martian atmosphere and search for clues as to why liquid water disappeared from the planet.

These four missions will bring the total number of probes launched to Mars into double-digits. The Curiosity and Mars InSight rovers are already combing the planet's surface, accompanied by orbiters conducting 24-hour scans.