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The minimum distance between Earth and Mars has been declining over the years, and in 2003 the minimum distance was 55.76 million km, nearer than any such encounter in almost 60,000 years (57,617 BC). The record minimum distance between Earth and Mars in 2729 will stand at 55.65 million km.
The Principal Investigator for RISE is William Folkner of JPL, who led the 1997 investigation of Mars's core using the radio link between Earth and NASA's Mars Pathfinder. RISE uses the spacecraft's radio connection with Earth to assess perturbations of Mars's rotation axis to within 10 centimeters.
Sun–Earth L 1: ESA, NASA: Orbiting near L 1 since 1996. Operational as of 2020. [27] WIND: Sun–Earth L 1: NASA: Arrived at L 1 in 2004 with fuel for 60 years. Operational as of 2019. [28] Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Sun–Earth L 2: NASA: Arrived at L 2 in 2001. Mission ended 2010, [29] then sent to solar orbit outside L 2. [30]
Mars spins a little more quickly each year, according to data collected by NASA’s now-retired InSight lander. ... A Martian day lasts about 40 minutes longer than a day on Earth.
The launch window, when the positions of Earth and Mars were optimal for traveling to Mars, opened on July 17, 2020, and lasted through August 15, 2020. [77] The rocket was launched on July 30, 2020, at 11:50 UTC, and the rover landed on Mars on February 18, 2021, at 20:55 UTC, with a planned surface mission of at least one Mars year (668 sols ...
The samples would be returned to Earth by July 2031. [127] NASA-ESA Mars Sample Return is a three-launch architecture concept for a sample return mission, which uses a rover to cache small samples, a Mars ascent stage to send it into orbit, and an orbiter to rendezvous with it above Mars and take it to Earth. [128]
Mars's average distance from the Sun is roughly 230 million km (143 million mi), and its orbital period is 687 (Earth) days. The solar day (or sol ) on Mars is only slightly longer than an Earth day: 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.244 seconds. [ 185 ]
This system is also much more precise: while the Mars Exploration Rovers could have landed anywhere within their respective 93-mile by 12-mile (150 by 20 kilometer) landing ellipses, Mars Science Laboratory landed within a 12-mile (20-kilometer) ellipse. [7] Mars 2020 has even more precise system, and landing ellipse of 7.7 by 6.6 km. [8]