Name: NASA's Perseverance, China's Tianwen-1 and UAE's Hope arrive at Mars this month
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NASA's Perseverance, China's Tianwen-1 and UAE's Hope arrive at Mars this month

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FollowFebruary is Mars month. Three spacecraft launched in July 2020 will make it to the red planet within days.Jackson RyanScience EditorJackson Ryan is CNET's award-winning science editor. He used to be a scientist but he realized he was not very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Now he has the best job in the world, telling stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters. Tweet him.4 min readJuly 2020 was a huge month for Mars. Taking advantage of its nearby position in orbit, on a seven-month journey to the red planet. Now those spacecraft -- , the and the -- are . They're poised to uncover the secrets our celestial neighbor hides within its atmosphere and barren plains and may even reveal .&nbsp;Although all three spacecraft will make it to orbit around Mars this month, NASA's Perseverance (or "Percy") gets to take center stage. It will be the only mission to land on the surface this month, with an expected arrival date of Feb. 18. Perseverance&nbsp;&nbsp;of interplanetary exploration, with its sibling rover Curiosity coming up on nine years on Mars, delivering&nbsp; and some&nbsp;.That's not to take anything away from the UAE's Hope, or Al Amal, and China's Tianwen-1. Both spacecraft are expected to perform Mars orbital insertion, or MOI, maneuvers within a day of each other on Feb. 9 and Feb. 10, respectively. Hope will remain in orbit and analyze the Martian atmosphere, but Tianwen-1 will attempt something only achieved by two other nations: landing on Mars' unfriendly surface. China is expected to release Tianwen-1's lander and rover duo sometime in May.&nbsp;Here's a recap of the journey to Mars and what we can expect this month.Every 26 months, the orbits of Earth and Mars line up in such a way that space agencies can take advantage of something known as a Hohmann transfer orbit."We do this kind of transfer orbit in order to use the least fuel," James O'Donoghue, a planetary scientist with Japanese space agency JAXA, . "It's like passing a football to a striker, you've got to aim where they're going to be."In July 2020, everything lined up perfectly, and the three missions were out of here. Some fast facts:The cadence of launches means Hope will reach Mars first in February. It's expected to perform its MOI on Feb. 9, slowing down from 75,000 miles per hour to just 11,200. At approximately 7:42 a.m. PT, the bus-length probe will arrive "at" Mars and will begin to transition to the science phase of the mission. The maneuver is totally autonomous, because communication doesn't quite work as quickly as it does here on Earth -- the interplanetary phone call has a more than 13-minute delay, so Hope will be flying on its own from a set of preset instructions.Tianwen-1's arrival is slightly more mysterious. China's space agency doesn't typically reveal a lot of information about its activities, even for a potentially history-making mission such as this. , it will be the second craft to enter orbit, on Feb. 10.&nbsp;Although the majority of the science will be performed when the spacecraft reach Mars, scientists and engineers have been testing the capability of their spacecraft on the cruise phase of the mission. The journey itself is a long one -- covering about 300 million miles (~480 million kilometers) -- and each agency has a chance to improve the trajectory of the craft for a perfect arrival. What else has been happening?NASA's Perseverance rover will touch down on Feb. 18. Though NASA's got a good track record of landing on the red planet in the last few decades, there are no guarantees -- Mars is hard.&nbsp;"Success is never assured," said Allan Chen, engineering lead on the entry, descent and landing phase of the mission, during a NASA press conference on Jan. 27. "That's especially true when we're trying to land the biggest, heaviest and most complicated rover we've ever built to the most dangerous site we've ever attempted to land on." &nbsp; The to have the best footage of landing ever, with a suite of cameras and a microphone ready to capture the entry, descent and landing. It's the first time we'll be able to listen to the sounds of a Martian landing, providing a completely new sensory experience for avid Mars fans. Sadly, there's no way we'll be able to watch live, as such, but NASA will provide coverage of the moment. We've got a and what you can expect.&nbsp;If you're looking to catch Perseverance rover's touchdown on Feb. 18, . And if you're interested in all the other great celestial events and rocket launches, -- you'll never miss a launch again.Get the CNET Science newsletterUnlock the biggest mysteries of our planet and beyond with the CNET Science newsletter. Delivered Mondays.

FollowFebruary is Mars month. Three spacecraft launched in July 2020 will make it to the red planet within days.Jackson RyanScience EditorJackson Ryan is CNET's award-winning science editor. He used to be a scientist but he realized he was not very happy sitting at a lab bench all day. Now he has the best job in the world, telling stories about space, the planet, climate change and the people working at the frontiers of human knowledge. He also owns a lot of ugly Christmas sweaters. Tweet him.4 min readJuly 2020 was a huge month for Mars. Taking advantage of its nearby position in orbit, on...

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Jackson Ryan

CNET, formerly Computer Network, is an American media website that publishes reviews, news, articles, blogs, podcasts, and videos on technology and consumer electronics globally. Founded in 1994 by Halsey Minor and Shelby Bonnie, it was the flagship brand of CNET Networks and became a brand of CBS Interactive through CNET Networks' acquisition in 2008.

NASA's Perseverance, China's Tianwen-1 and UAE's Hope arrive at Mars this month

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