Asian Mars Missions

Alike Moon, Mars also has been a part of agenda for spacefaring almost since beginning. The first mission towards Mars was undertaken by the erstwhile USSR in 1960. However, Mars been one arena which has mostly alluded success particularly during early years to the major spacefaring nations. Almost, two thirds of all spacecraft destined for Mars have failed to achieve desired results. Till mid of 2011, only one Asian country (Japan) had attempted a Mars mission, and that too was a failure.

The first successful fly-by mission to Mars was NASA’s Mariner 4, launched in 1964. NASA’s Viking programme during mid-1970s could be viewed as one of the most successful programme where two landers had touched the Mars surface and had remained operational for 3-6 years.[252] All these years, the primary objectives of various missions have been basically to understand the evolution and present – day geophysical, chemical, geological and atmospheric states of the planet and its interaction with the interplanetary environment.[253]

The interests of Asian states in Mars are somewhat limited. Limitations of technology and the financial concerns appear to be the main reasons behind this. However, with increase in space activities and understanding the importance of Mars, the big three Asian space powers are expected to improve their investments in near future. The distance between the Moon and the Earth varies from around 356,400-406,700 km. In case of Mars, the distance increased multifold and varies from around 56,000,000-399,000,000 km. It is important to note that even though reaching the Moon allows the state to exhibit its deep space mission capabilities, the real deep space achievement is to reach the Mars.

In post Cold War era, the first Asian sate to launch a Mars mission is Japan; mission was launched on July 4, 1998. This was Japan’s first interplanetary mission and was called NOZOMI (PLANET-B) meaning Hope. The aim of this mission was to orbit Mars at an altitude 130-150, 5,000 km and to transmit data for one Martian year. It had 14 instruments onboard including sensors from EU, Canada and the USA. Initially, the performance of the craft was found normal in the Erath – Moon system. On the way to Mars, however, troubles occurred, and substantial orbit changes were made. Thus, it took 4 years more than the original plan and the mission approached closely towards Mars by December 2003; however, Mars orbit insertion could not be achieved, and the craft was lost [16]. Subsequently, Japan has not announced any other major plans for visiting Mars even though they are having an agenda of visiting other planets. Japan unsuccessfully attempted a mission to Venus during Dec 2010. Japan’s spacecraft Akatsuki (‘dawn’ in Japanese) failed to inject the orbiter into the planned orbit as a result of incorrect orbit estimation. They propose to undertake a renewed attempt to get it into orbit around Venus in 2015 [17].

China and India are the late starters as compared to Japan. China has clearly articulated a Mars roadmap; however, India’s attempts still appear to be in nascent state. China’s first planetary mission Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter failed due to the launcher failure. It was a Chinese-Russian exploration of Mars. Yinghuo-1 was launched along with the Russian craft called Fobos-Grunt to Mars by a Ukrainian rocket. This small probe was weighing 115 kg and had a designed for a 2-year mission. The main goal of this mission was to search for the signs of liquid water on the Mars surface. The other scientific objectives of this mission include an investigation of the plasma environment and magnetic field study of Martian ion escape processes and possible mechanisms. This probe had five payloads onboard. In the vicinity of Mars, Yinghuo-1 was to be inserted into a near-equatorial, elliptical orbit. The spacecraft was to approach within 400-1,000 km of Mars’ surface at closest approach. The mission was tasked to undertake various measurements. Fobos-Grunt and Yinghuo-1 were expected to work in tandem to measure the structure of Mars’ ionosphere.[254] The Ukrainian Zenit rocket was launched on Nov 8, 2011, with Yinghuo-1 and the Russian Fobos-Grunt spacecraft onboard. Fobos-Grunt was to perform two burns, an orbit-raising manoeuvre, two and a half hours after launch [18]. This was meant to depart Earth orbit and begin its journey to Mars. However, these burns did not take place. Further efforts to retrieve the situation failed, and on Nov 17, 2011, China formally declared the loss of Yinghuo-1 probe.

The next ‘launch window’ will open around Nov 2013 when Mars and Earth would be closest to each other. Subsequent opportunity would be available only in 2016. China is presently working towards catching the earliest possible launch date. In 2013, China is expected to launch its solo Mars mission by using China –

made rockets (best option is probably Long March 3B), observation device and detector. This Mars probe is expected to be an updated and modified version of lunar probe.[255]

China appears to have long-term interest to study Mars seriously; they were part of the Mars-500 experiment (2007-2011).[256] This experiment was jointly conducted by Russia, Europe and China. The project was aimed to obtain experimental data on the health of astronauts and their ability for work in situation of prolonged isolation. For this purpose, a 520-day manned Mars mission was simulated where six astro­nauts were kept in isolation for all these days. This group had one astronaut from China. This experiment would have yielded valuable psychological and medical data which would help China in regard to their planned manned Moon/Mars mission.

Manned Mars exploration could be viewed as an ultimate dream for major space powers. The Bush administration in 2004 has identified such mission as one of the long-term goals for the USA. Interestingly, President Barack Obama views China as a potential partner for an eventual human mission to Mars.[257] It is generally felt that such mission would be difficult for any single nation to undertake such a mission due to financial and technological challenges. There are chances of resistance with the USA for such potential tie-up. It would be of interest to know how Chinese leadership views such offer.

India has begun preparations for a Mars mission; and has rescheduled its earlier plan of launching the mission during the 2016/2018 window. Now, it would be launching its Mars mission on Nov 27,2013 when the red planet will be closer to the earth for injecting the spacecraft into its elliptical orbit. India’s Mars mission was announced by the Indian Prime Minister on during his Independence Day speech on Aug 15, 2012. As per Chairman ISRO Mr K Radhakrishnan this US$80 million mission would attempt to look for life-sustaining elements 500 km away from the Martian surface. India would use PSLV-XL rocket to launch this mission which would have nine instruments to study various aspects of the red planet. Launching of this mission would allow India to join the elite club of five top nations comprising the US, Russia, Europe, China and Japan, with indigenous technology for a 300- day space voyage from the launch date. India expects to undertake this mission as one of the low-cost missions like its other deep space missions, namely, the Moon mission.[258]