UAE orbiter is already en route. PRC and US rovers are about ready to go. All 3 sets should arrive 2021 Feb and do their things. An EU/Russia rover will slip 28 months to the next 'fuel-economy launch window'. Its parachute got a bit rippy. Other than last one, I don't know what else is planned for subsequent window. Maybe we won't talk about that until seeing if the new ones splat.
First two are en route, with US scheduled to launch July 30. I watched PRC launch narration with English translation. Be assured one cannot learn astrophysics that way For 'the books' PRC had a previous orbiter attempt. Co launched with Russia Phobos Grunt, it got as far as the Pacific Ocean.
Phobos-Grunt would have been the first sample-return mission and thus A Big Deal. Colorful art at Failed Russian Mars Probe Crashes Into Pacific Ocean: Reports | Space Their next shot (mentioned firstly) includes delivery of ESA rover Rosalind Franklin, making it a big deal in a different way. But no sample return. I don't know who will take next shot at that, nor when. (Known) Mars bits delivered to Earth as meteorites total less than 30 kilograms I think. They are not nearly as revealing as fresh material would be. Will be.
You may have been following NASA's Perseverance launch. It had an early issue that has been resolved. The way I read it, comms back to Earth overloaded the Deep Space Network because the little guy was still too close to the big guy. One over R squared usually bites the other way But now all 3 little guys are in cruise and 2021 February will show orbital capture by Mar's gravity. That's the plan. Later the 2 down-goers will demonstrate their skills. Then there will be a helicopter on Mars!
disoriented antenna on the little guy would not be my preferred explanation. A long trip ahead and earth and its dishes are going to get a lot smaller. So, at what velocity are these 3 little guys? Earth escape is 11.2 km/sec (corrections welcome) and they must be just a bit higher. My other question, because 'Percy' is about 5 tons overall - Is this the biggest thing that has been thrown past GEO?
I would offset only the pointing of the ground station antenna. Don't add any new complications to the newly launched piece now beyond the reach of our hands. The S-IVB, the third stage of the Saturn V launch vehicle for the moon visits, had a dry mass of 11 tons. I believe these were disposed into solar orbit. At least one came back somewhat recently, was captured for a while by the earth-moon gravity well, then expelled again. For active devices that could kept reporting back to us, I can't think of anything heavier. Galileo and Cassini where about 2.5 tons each.
So little mass we have boosted past GEO and Molniya orbits. How 'local' we still are. Maybe in late 2020s, some substantial mass will be thrown at Mars. Kinda looks like a 2030s thing though. Hope I get to see it, but ooops - mortal being.
At first, by GEO, I didn't know if you meant Earth's gravity well, or geosynchronous orbit. But now I see references to it meaning the later. So all the Apollo moonshot payloads lofted to lunar injection orbit qualify to that question. That adds a lot more mass above CEO, though still below Earth escape. While one line suggested that the S-IVB (third stage) launch vehicle had a dry mass of 11 tons, another suggests 13 tons (total third stage dry mass, less the interstage adapter that remained bolted atop the non-orbiting second stage). Then add in the payload -- around 53 additional tons, varying by mission. Adding payload and boost vehicles, that comes to about 66 tons per moon trip lofted above CEO. And there were 9 of these trips, Apollos 8 and 10-17. Not all of those S-IVBs were disposed into solar orbit. Starting with Apollo 13, there were crashed into the moon to stimulate the seismometers left by prior missions.
Please, calm my friends. Sure this is the time for least energy launches based upon orbital mechanics. Just a new launch system appears to becoming online. Bob Wilson
