In three years, Japan plans to send a miniature lander to the Red Planet.
The Yomiuri newspaper writes about these plans of the Japanese. According to the publication, experts have already begun developing a miniature and relatively inexpensive apparatus for exploring Mars. It is known that its weight will be only 140 kg - about ten times less than previously used devices of this type. The creation of the device will cost the Land of the Rising Sun 1–2 billion yen (approximately 8.5–17 million dollars), which is also ten times less than usual expenses.
Specialists from the National Institute of Communication Technology, Tokyo University and Osaka University are working on the descent vehicle. Its tasks will include the study of the composition of the atmosphere and the nature of the surface of Mars by analyzing terahertz radiation emanating from various material objects.
Today, the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Arab Emirates intend to send heavy research vehicles to Mars in the 2020s. They intend to plant a Japanese miniature apparatus on one of these probes. It is assumed that after entering the orbit of the Red Planet, it will separate and will independently descend to the Martian surface.
This is not the first Japanese spacecraft designed to explore Mars. In 1998, Japan had already sent the Nozomi probe to Mars, but this mission failed due to a breakdown in the vehicle's propulsion system.
Recall that not so long ago, the Chinese also announced their intentions to go to Mars. By 2020, they plan to send their first probe to the "rendezvous" with the Red Planet.
Araik Yeghishyan