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Thanks for reading Axios Space. At 1,207 words, this week's newsletter will take you about 4.5 minutes to read.
Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
NASA's next Mars rover ushers in a new chapter of exploration for the space agency that will eventually be defined by human missions to the Red Planet.
Why it matters: Rovers, landers and orbiters have beamed back invaluable data about Mars for decades, but the next phase in exploration depends on human explorers. One astronaut conducting science on Mars' surface could yield more efficient and quicker results than even the most advanced robot.
What's happening: NASA's Perseverance rover — expected to launch to Mars Thursday on a mission to hunt for signs of past life on the distant world — marks the culmination of decades of robotic exploration of the Red Planet.
The big picture: This new chapter of exploration will also allow NASA to learn more about what's needed to make a human mission successful.
Between the lines: Perseverance will also set up future robotic missions with its work on the Martian surface.
"All of the things that we understand about the Earth from, for example, geology and geochemistry — they perfectly apply on Mars."— Kenneth Farley, Perseverance project scientist
What's next: NASA plans to use the Moon and its Artemis program as a staging ground to get to Mars sometime in the 2030s.
Artist's illustration of the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Perseverance will carry new tech to Mars that represents major technological advances since NASA's last rover — Curiosity — landed on the Red Planet in 2012.
Why it matters: These new experiments and technology demonstrations will fill in gaps in knowledge scientists have about the world and set up future robotic missions in the process.
Details: NASA's Ingenuity helicopter heading to Mars with Perseverance is a technology demonstration designed to autonomously fly through Mars' thin atmosphere as a proof of concept for a full-scale mission in the future.
The big picture: All of these instruments will give scientists a more comprehensive look at Mars than they've had in the past, adding to the data collected by other rovers, landers and orbiters over the decades.
What to watch: Perseverance and all of its technological goodies are expected to leave for Mars Thursday at 7:50am ET from Florida atop a ULA Atlas V rocket.
Earth from orbit. Photo: NASA
On July 15, Russia ratcheted up international tensions by testing what appears to be a weapon to destroy enemy satellites in space, according to the U.S. Department of Defense.
Why it matters: Russia has been building out its space weapons capabilities for years. The recent test — which did not destroy a satellite — comes after Russia staged another anti-satellite test of a different kind of system in April.
Driving the news: On July 15, Russia's Cosmos 2543 satellite appeared to release a projectile near another Russian satellite.
The big picture: Space is a warfighting domain. The U.S. military relies on satellite imagery and other data beamed back to Earth by a small group of extremely powerful satellites to make accurate decisions about strategy.
A time lapse of Martian weather in 2018. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems
Coming of age on Mars (Dennis Overbye, New York Times)
A faraway solar system is an uncanny reflection of our own (Marina Koren, The Atlantic)
Democratic platform calls for continuity in NASA programs (Jeff Foust, SpaceNews)
China launches ambitious mission on journey to Mars (Axios)
Photo: Bob Behnken/NASA
Crewmembers on the International Space Station experience 16 sunrises and sunsets each day as their orbiting home fully circles the Earth every 90 minutes.
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