Wang Kechao, director of science popularization at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that Mars, the "neighbor" of the earth, will travel to the farthest position from the earth in the current rendezvous cycle on October 18. By then, Mars will be about 2.54 astronomical units or about 380 million kilometers away from Earth. This is also the farthest distance Mars has been from Earth this year.
Wang Kechao introduced that Mars and Earth are both planets orbiting the sun in the solar system, and the distance between them is far and near. The average rendezvous period of the two planets is about 780 days, or about 26 months. In each cycle, Mars and Earth will usher in a "meeting" and also usher in the farthest distance. During this rendezvous cycle, Mars has reached its closest position to Earth on December 1, 2022, when it is about 0.54 astronomical units away from Earth.
However, the closest and farthest distances of Mars and Earth differ during each rendezvous cycle. "Mars is about 55 million kilometers from Earth at its closest distance and more than 400 million kilometers at its longest. This means that a rover on Mars can communicate with Earth in a minimum of about 3 minutes and a maximum of about 22 minutes. Wang Kechao said.
As Earth's "nearest neighbor", Mars has always been a hot spot for scientists and astronauts to explore. Modern research has found that iron oxide is widely distributed on the surface of Mars, giving it a red appearance. Similar to Earth, Mars is composed of predominantly silicate rocks. The terrain of Mars is also very rich, and the surface also has river valleys, alluvial plains, deltas, deserts and polar ice caps similar to those on Earth. Like Earth, there are dust storms on Mars. Martian dust storms can last more than 3 months.
"Mars is considered to be another planet besides Earth that may have spawned and existed for life. For human beings, it is not only a planet, but also represents the exploration of the unknown universe and the future survival and development of human beings. That's why we have a soft spot for Mars. Wang Kechao said.
Source: Xinhua Viewpoint
Editor: Cheng Jiayu