Since the first storytellers slept under the stars, the red planet – close, visible, familiar and fierce – has fired our imagination. It has been a place of menace and of hope, an omen of death and the best bet for life beyond our own. This we know: some 3.5 billion years ago, Earth and Mars were quite similar. At the moment, Earth and Mars are aligned in a way that means the journey takes less than seven months. So in recent weeks, three separate missions – sent by China, the United Arab Emirates and, this week, the United States – have set off for the red planet.

Source: The Irish Times July 31, 2020 18:05 UTC