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Take On Mars | |
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Developer(s) | Bohemia Interactive |
Publisher(s) | Bohemia Interactive |
Director(s) | Martin Melichárek |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows |
Release | 9 February 2017 |
Genre(s) | Simulation |
Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Take On Mars is a simulation video game for Windows, developed by Bohemia Interactive. The game was announced at E3 2013 [1] and released in its alpha version on 1 August of that year. It is the second installment in the Take On series after Take On Helicopters . The user assumes control of a rover or lander in order to explore Mars. The spacecraft can be equipped with scientific instruments by the player in order to study the Martian surface and complete objectives. The game includes seven destinations for the player to visit: Asteroid Belt, Deimos moon, Gale crater, Kaiser crater, Lyot crater, Ptolemaeus crater, and Victoria crater; with Mars Yard located on earth as a testing ground. [2]
In Take On Mars, the player operates a variety of Mars landers and rovers. The functions of the space vehicles are not fully accurate in order to make the simulation more accessible. The speed of the rovers is increased along with their instruments. [3] Unlike actual Mars exploration vehicles, the in-game spacecraft are controlled in real time: rather than planning a Martian spacecraft's tasks for the day, the player directly operates its instruments. Functions that a user must perform include driving to new destinations, imaging terrain, and collecting samples. Multiple science instruments are unlocked by the player in order to study Mars and complete mission objectives. Many landings are required to complete all missions for any given location. Each spacecraft carries a relevant suite of instruments designed to complete its assigned objectives.
The player is able to enter the lab where they are able to change assets on the given vehicle in order to increase the quality of the asset or outfit the vehicle with the budget allotted. From imagers or APXS to an arm on a lander, or a chemical battery, many small details can be changed about a vehicle to create a unique variant to the basic model. There are three tiers the user can choose from the first tier to the last are each incremented by double the previous tier in price.
The first chapter of TKOM begins in the current year the player is playing in. The player takes on the role of a rover operator, exploring the vast wastes of the Martian surface and pushing their rovers, landers and probes to their limits to complete a set of science tasks. Along the way, the player will need to research new technologies in order to progress through the campaign. After they complete chapter 1, they can do chapter 2.
The story of chapter 2 is inspired by Andy Weir's The Martian. [4]
Chapter 2 is set in 2028 when the first crewed mission, Expedition 1, is sent to Mars. The player takes control of Mark Willis, a member of the crew. During the landing, Expedition 1 suffers an accident and the crew dies after crashing on the surface. Willis is the sole survivor on Mars surface without any contact with Earth. He has to survive and find a way home. [5]
In a playable scenario that takes place years after Expedition 1 crashed and Willis left Mars, a rover named Elios is built sent to investigate the site and determine what went wrong. It was found a meteor hit the lander during descent and caused it to crash on Mars.
After the Europa update, 2 additional scenarios were added to the story, which mention Expedition 1. At this point in the story, humanity has expanded out to Jupiter and are now exploring its moon Europa in search for potential subsurface life.
The early access phase of Take On Mars allows users to help Bohemia Interactive create new content and fix many bugs the users spot. They have implemented the Mantis Bug Tracker for users to effectively report issues to the developers. They have added many new missions, since the launch of the game on August 1, 2013. [6] [7]
A patch released on October 3, 2013 included a workbench suite for mod-makers. Added locations Deimos moon and Asteroid Belt. It will also include Dynamic Mission Generation of every task types (e.g. photo, exploration and analysis). Weather will also make its way into the game with sandstorms, strong winds, and dust devils. [8]
On November 20, 2013, Take On Mars received its third large patch overhaul, adding new vehicles, two new locations (Lyot, and Ptolemaeus), with a mission control room addition of a tech tree and objectives. [9]
Bohemia Interactive announced on 21 January 2017 that Take On Mars will leave early access on 9 February.
Bohemia Interactive released a free DLC for the game on November 15, 2017. This was the final update for Take On Mars.
Bohemia Interactive has since ended support for the game after the Europa update.
IGN stated that this game will be boring for most gamers, but for a select few it would be something "nerds have been waiting for". It seems to be a great balance between science and the fun of playing a sim. [3] IGN awarded the game by IGN's Best of PC Award in category Best New PC Game. [10]
The Mariner program was conducted by the American space agency NASA to explore other planets. Between 1962 and late 1973, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) designed and built 10 robotic interplanetary probes named Mariner to explore the inner Solar System – visiting the planets Venus, Mars and Mercury for the first time, and returning to Venus and Mars for additional close observations.
Phobos is the innermost and larger of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Deimos. The two moons were discovered in 1877 by American astronomer Asaph Hall. It is named after Phobos, the Greek god of fear and panic, who is the son of Ares (Mars) and twin brother of Deimos.
Deimos is the smaller and outer of the two natural satellites of Mars, the other being Phobos. Deimos has a mean radius of 6.2 km (3.9 mi) and takes 30.3 hours to orbit Mars. Deimos is 23,460 km (14,580 mi) from Mars, much farther than Mars's other moon, Phobos. It is named after Deimos, the Ancient Greek god and personification of dread and terror.
A lander is a spacecraft that descends towards, then comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body other than Earth. In contrast to an impact probe, which makes a hard landing that damages or destroys the probe upon reaching the surface, a lander makes a soft landing after which the probe remains functional.
NASA's Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission was a robotic space mission involving two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, exploring the planet Mars. It began in 2003 with the launch of the two rovers to explore the Martian surface and geology; both landed on Mars at separate locations in January 2004. Both rovers far outlived their planned missions of 90 Martian solar days: MER-A Spirit was active until March 22, 2010, while MER-B Opportunity was active until June 10, 2018.
Spirit, also known as MER-A or MER-2, is a Mars robotic rover, active from 2004 to 2010. Spirit was operational on Mars for 2208 sols or 3.3 Martian years. It was one of two rovers of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Mission managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Spirit landed successfully within the impact crater Gusev on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity (MER-B), which landed on the other side of the planet. Its name was chosen through a NASA-sponsored student essay competition. The rover got stuck in a "sand trap" in late 2009 at an angle that hampered recharging of its batteries; its last communication with Earth was on March 22, 2010.
Opportunity, also known as MER-B or MER-1, is a robotic rover that was active on Mars from 2004 until 2018. Opportunity was operational on Mars for 5111 sols. Launched on July 7, 2003, as part of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover program, it landed in Meridiani Planum on January 25, 2004, three weeks after its twin, Spirit (MER-A), touched down on the other side of the planet. With a planned 90-sol duration of activity, Spirit functioned until it got stuck in 2009 and ceased communications in 2010, while Opportunity was able to stay operational for 5111 sols after landing, maintaining its power and key systems through continual recharging of its batteries using solar power, and hibernating during events such as dust storms to save power. This careful operation allowed Opportunity to operate for 57 times its designed lifespan, exceeding the initial plan by 14 years, 47 days. By June 10, 2018, when it last contacted NASA, the rover had traveled a distance of 45.16 kilometers.
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is a robotic space probe mission to Mars launched by NASA on November 26, 2011, which successfully landed Curiosity, a Mars rover, in Gale Crater on August 6, 2012. The overall objectives include investigating Mars' habitability, studying its climate and geology, and collecting data for a human mission to Mars. The rover carries a variety of scientific instruments designed by an international team.
The two moons of Mars are Phobos and Deimos. They are irregular in shape. Both were discovered by American astronomer Asaph Hall in August 1877 and are named after the Greek mythological twin characters Phobos and Deimos who accompanied their father Ares into battle. Ares, the god of war, was known to the Romans as Mars.
The idea of sending humans to Mars has been the subject of aerospace engineering and scientific studies since the late 1940s as part of the broader exploration of Mars. Long-term proposals have included sending settlers and terraforming the planet. Currently, only robotic landers and rovers have been on Mars. The farthest humans have been beyond Earth is the Moon, under the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Apollo program which ended in 1972.
The Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher (MAX-C), also known as Mars 2018 mission, was a NASA concept for a Mars rover mission, proposed to be launched in 2018 together with the European ExoMars rover. The MAX-C rover concept was cancelled in April 2011 due to budget cuts.
Curiosity is a car-sized Mars rover exploring Gale crater and Mount Sharp on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. Curiosity was launched from Cape Canaveral (CCAFS) on November 26, 2011, at 15:02:00 UTC and landed on Aeolis Palus inside Gale crater on Mars on August 6, 2012, 05:17:57 UTC. The Bradbury Landing site was less than 2.4 km (1.5 mi) from the center of the rover's touchdown target after a 560 million km (350 million mi) journey.
Mars 2020 is a NASA mission that includes the rover Perseverance, the now-retired small robotic helicopter Ingenuity, and associated delivery systems, as part of the Mars Exploration Program. Mars 2020 was launched on an Atlas V rocket at 11:50:01 UTC on July 30, 2020, and landed in the Martian crater Jezero on February 18, 2021, with confirmation received at 20:55 UTC. On March 5, 2021, NASA named the landing site Octavia E. Butler Landing. As of 14 July 2024, Perseverance has been on Mars for 1209 sols. Ingenuity operated on Mars for 1042 sols before sustaining serious damage to its rotor blades, possibly all four, causing NASA to retire the craft on January 25, 2024.
Phobos Surveyor is a mission concept under preliminary study by Marco Pavone of Stanford University, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a part of NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts program.
The Mars Excursion Module (MEM) was a spacecraft proposed by NASA in the 1960s for use in a human mission to Mars, and this can refer to any number of studies by corporations and spaceflight centers for Mars landers. However, primarily a MEM referred to a combination of a Manned Mars lander, short-stay surface habitat, and Mars ascent stage. Variations on a MEM included spacecraft designs like an uncrewed Mars surface cargo delivery, and there was a MEM lander that combined a communications center, living habitat, and laboratory.
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Tianwen-1 Chinese: 天问一号 is an interplanetary mission by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) which sent a robotic spacecraft to Mars, consisting of 6 spacecraft: an orbiter, two deployable cameras, lander, remote camera, and the Zhurong rover. The spacecraft, with a total mass of nearly five tons, is one of the heaviest probes launched to Mars and carries 14 scientific instruments. It is the first in a series of planned missions undertaken by CNSA as part of its Planetary Exploration of China program.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Mars:
Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) is a robotic space probe set for launch in 2026 to bring back the first samples from Mars' largest moon Phobos. Developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and announced on 9 June 2015, MMX will land and collect samples from Phobos once or twice, along with conducting Deimos flyby observations and monitoring Mars's climate.