'We are all Martians!': space explorers seek to solve the riddle of life on Mars
by Robin McKie from Science | The Guardian on (#55KKG)
With the red planet's launch window about to open, the US, China and the UAE are all sending craft to look for answers
In the next few weeks, a flotilla of probes will be blasted into space from launch pads round the world and propelled towards one of the solar system's most mysterious objects: the planet Mars. Within days of each other, spacecraft built by the USA, by China and by the United Arab Emirates will be sent on separate, seven-month voyages to investigate the red planet.
Never has so much interplanetary traffic been put en route to Mars at one time - and all of it is intended to help answer a question that has nagged scientists for decades: is there, or was there ever, life on Mars?
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