But the geopolitics of these missions run deeper than their scientific purposes bely. The intention of all three Mars missions is to gain more understanding of our neighbouring planet, with an eye to future human missions. As well, there is some international celebration of the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s Mars orbiter “Hope” making a successful arrival – a first for any Arab nation – however, not as much media attention has been paid to China’s own recent Red Planet mission, “Questions to Heaven” (Tianwen-1). The crystal-clear pictures of the Mars-scape broadcast now almost daily on social media allow us all to feel we are a part of this exciting next step in inter-planetary exploration. The ability to watch live stream images of NASA’s rover “Perseverance” landing on Mars was exhilarating.
While the first space age of the 1960s was driven by Cold War politics, this new space age is fuelled by politics of the 2020s. As the US, the United Arab Emirates, and China all celebrate successful arrivals of their Mars missions, it is worth observing geopolitical undercurrents.
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