In our last article, we learned about all the missions that are launching to mars. but if you observed clearly, all the missions to Mars are launching in the same month, that is July. so why are they launching in the same month?
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| Why all space agencies launching their mission in July 2020 |
Reason: Because it offers great savings on the rocket fuel. Yes!!!. You read it right, that is the absolute perfect time to get a spacecraft to while by using a very little amount of rocket fuel. But how? Do the two planets are coming closer? No. that is not the case. it is by using, “ HOHMANN TRANSFER ORBIT”. so, what is it actually???
Hohmann Transfer Orbit:
Scientist are launching the craft in an orbit called “ HOHMANN TRANSFER ORBIT”. This orbit is in the elliptical shape and the sun is or uses the sun as a focal point (no the center point). The orbit looks like this,
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| HOHMANN TRANSFER ORBIT |
The space craft’s launch will be at the closest point to the sun, the point has another name called “Perihelion”. The spacecraft will travel in this point and enters or crosses the mars path, which is at the farthest point from the sun, this point has a name called “Aphelion".
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| “Parihelion” and “Aphelion" points |
So, here comes the difficult part, when the spacecraft is at the aphelion point, mars should also be at the same point so that the spacecraft will enter into its atmosphere. This to happen, we have to launch the spacecraft at the exact right time which is in mid-July.
The total time a spacecraft takes to travel from perihelion
to aphelion is about 259 days. During this time mars will move about 136°. As we know that, the mars is farther from the sun and have a bigger
orbit, the mars take a longer time to travel the same angular distance than
earth. So to sync up the 180° ( the from the perihelion to aphelion), the spacecraft needs to be launched when
mars have a 44° head start. So that they both sync up and meet at the aphelion point. This happens for a few weeks once every 26
months. So the mid- July is the perfect time to launch the spacecraft to Mars.
GREEN: 136°
Violet: 44°
Total: 180°
Video for your reference:
Know about the mission that are launching in july 2020: mission mars 2020
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