Mars 2020 missions: Here’s why multiple spacecraft are launching this summer

CNN — If it seems like Mars is a popular destination right now, that’s for a reason: The chance to fly thereonly comes around every 26 months. “And I don’t think any of us anticipated thisCovid pandemic right during the most busy time of the mission.” This is when mission teams were working during three different shifts a day, 24/7, to finish final assembly, conduct final testing of the clean flight hardware and make sure the mission was ready to go, Watkins said. NASA really came together as a family and really it’s just been a surprisingly smooth experience given all the troubles with Covid.” When planets align Earth is the third closest planet to the sun and Mars is the fourth, which influences the orbits of the planets around the sun as well as the number of days that equal a year on each planet. Scheduling a specific launch window ensures that the spacecraft will land as NASA’s orbiters at Mars will pass over the landing site, providing radio transmissions from the spacecraft. Storage of the spacecraft and other factors of the delay would cost NASA $500 million and impact the long-term goals of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, according to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine.