As we start a new year, the anticipation in the planetary science community is absolutely palpable. Over the next month, we are going to see three separate missions arrive at the Red Planet: NASA's Perseverance rover, the UAE's Hope orbiter, and China's Tianwen-1 mission.

Because Earth and Mars only align favourably for a launch window every 26 months, we often see these clustered flotillas of spacecraft. The Hope probe will be the Arab world's very first interplanetary mission, which is a fantastic milestone. After the long, quiet seven-month cruise through deep space, the absolute terror of orbital insertion and atmospheric entry is just around the corner!