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I had no idea they had a rover on the way, very cool! What is the objective and the interest in the Utopia site?

porphyra 5y ago
It has a ground penetrating radar to see stuff 100 m below the ground, something that no other Mars rover has done before. I think that's pretty cool!
- zoomablemind 5y ago
  > ...ground penetrating radar to see stuff 100 m below the ground... Is this type of survey also possible from the orbiter? Though it would not be as hi-def as from the land level, but more extensive coverage.
  - porphyra 5y ago
    I read that ground penetrating radar only really works well if it is really close to the ground. It also only gets a thin slice of the ground so you need a rover that can move in order to image a volume.
publicola1990 5y ago
It had some coverage here, it was one of the three probes headed for Mars this year, other two being the US and UAE probes. The rover itself is not as larges as the Perseverance or Curiosity, but their orbiter seems a quite heavy probe. Hope we will get some detailed high-resolution images of the surface from the orbiter, so that we can have even better surface maps of Mars. Also the CNSA programs don't get as much coverage in the West. Their Chang'e 5 lunar sample return probe was quite a good achievement, with they being able to do an autonomous docking in lunar orbit. A video of the sample transfer in lunar orbit: https://youtu.be/iABFC9V3cPc https://youtu.be/iABFC9V3cPc
- HDMI_Cable 5y ago
  Wait the UAE is sending a probe to mars? I haven't heard anything about this. Is it going to be a rover, or just a satellite?
  - publicola1990 5y ago
    It is an orbiter, and is already in orbit around Mars.
NeoVeles 5y ago
I am usually up to date on these sorts of things and this is the first I have heard of it. That said, absolutely amazing to see happen! Here is hoping that it lasts long past the design date like the others tend to do.

It has a ground penetrating radar to see stuff 100 m below the ground, something that no other Mars rover has done before. I think that's pretty cool!

zoomablemind 5y ago
> ...ground penetrating radar to see stuff 100 m below the ground... Is this type of survey also possible from the orbiter? Though it would not be as hi-def as from the land level, but more extensive coverage.
- porphyra 5y ago
  I read that ground penetrating radar only really works well if it is really close to the ground. It also only gets a thin slice of the ground so you need a rover that can move in order to image a volume.

publicola1990 5y ago

It had some coverage here, it was one of the three probes headed for Mars this year, other two being the US and UAE probes. The rover itself is not as larges as the Perseverance or Curiosity, but their orbiter seems a quite heavy probe. Hope we will get some detailed high-resolution images of the surface from the orbiter, so that we can have even better surface maps of Mars. Also the CNSA programs don't get as much coverage in the West. Their Chang'e 5 lunar sample return probe was quite a good achievement, with they being able to do an autonomous docking in lunar orbit. A video of the sample transfer in lunar orbit: https://youtu.be/iABFC9V3cPc https://youtu.be/iABFC9V3cPc

HDMI_Cable 5y ago
Wait the UAE is sending a probe to mars? I haven't heard anything about this. Is it going to be a rover, or just a satellite?
- publicola1990 5y ago
  It is an orbiter, and is already in orbit around Mars.

NeoVeles 5y ago

I am usually up to date on these sorts of things and this is the first I have heard of it. That said, absolutely amazing to see happen! Here is hoping that it lasts long past the design date like the others tend to do.