The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover, which has embarked on its approach to the Red Planet, will help answer the next logical question in the Mars study.
With just about 50 million miles (80 million kilometers) left to embark on its 293-million-mile (471-million-kilometer) mission, NASA’s Mars 2020 sustainability rover is near its new planetary home. The spacecraft has begun its journey to the Red Planet and in 43 days, on February 18, 2021, permanence will explode through the atmosphere of Mars at about 12,100 mph (19,500 kph), gently touching the surface about seven minutes later.
“We are working on our latest changes to put Perseverance in the perfect position to land in one of the most exciting locations on Mars,” said Fernando Abilleira, deputy mission manager at Laboratory Jet Will at NASA in Southern California. “The team can’t wait to put those wheels in some Martian dirt.”
This photo shows NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft carrying the Perseverance rover as it approaches Mars. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Catech
Built and managed by JPL for NASA, Perseverance joins another rover and lander currently working on Mars, with several orbiters in the skies above. What sets this six-wheeled robot apart?
1. Perseverance seeks signs of an old life.
While the surface of Mars is a frozen desert today, scientists have learned from previous NASA missions that the Red Planet once hosted running water and warmer surface environments that could have supported microbial life.
“We want perseverance to help us answer the next logical question: Are there any signs of microbial life in Mars’ past?” said Katie Stack Morgan, project associate at JPL. “This challenging goal means sending the most sophisticated robotic scientist yet to Mars.”
To address this question, which is fundamental in the field of astrobiology, Perseverance is carrying a new set of modern science instruments. Two of them will play a key role in detecting potential signs in a past life: SHERLOC (short for Environmental Scanning by Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), which detects organic matter and minerals , and PIXL (short for Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry), which maps the chemical composition of rocks and sediments. The instruments allow scientists to analyze these features together at a higher level of detail than any previous Mars rover has achieved.
Perseverance also uses some instruments to collect scientific data from a distance: Mastcam-Z cameras can move in on a rock texture from as far away as a football field, and SuperCam uses a laser to zap rock and regolith (broken rock and dust) to inspect the contents in the resulting valve. RIMFAX (short for Radar Imager for Mars ’Subsurface Experiment) uses radar waves to study geological features underground.
2. The rover lands in a place with a high potential for detecting these signs of past microbial life.
Land of interest to scientists can be challenging to land. Thanks to new technologies that allow Sustainability to target the landing site more precisely and to automatically avoid landing hazards, the spacecraft can safely land in a place as interesting as Jezero Crater, 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer-wide) basins are steep cliffs, sandbanks and boulder fields.
NASA’s Perseverance rover completes its journey to Mars on February 18, 2021. To reach the surface of the Red Planet, it must survive the lateral final stage known as Entry, Descent, and Landing. Credits: NASA / JPL-Caltech
More than 3.5 billion years ago, a river there flowed into a body of water about the size of Lake Tahoe, depositing sediments in the form of a fan called a delta. The sustainability science team believes that this ancient river delta and lake deposits may have accumulated and preserved accumulations of organic molecules and other signs of microbial life.
3. Sustainability also collects important data about the geology and climate of Mars.
Context is everything. Mars orbiters have been collecting images and data from Jezero Crater from about 200 miles (322 kilometers) above, but finding traces of ancient life on the surface requires closer inspection. He needs a rover like Perseverance.
Understanding Mars’ past climatic conditions and reading the geological history rooted in its rocks will give scientists a richer understanding of what the planet was like in the past. past tense. Studying the geology and climate of the Red Planet may give us an idea of why Earth and Mars – despite some early appearances – came to such a different conclusion.
4. Perseverance is the first leg of a round trip to Mars.
The proof of ancient life on Mars carries a great burden of proof. Perseverance is the first rover to bring a sample caching system to Mars to pack promising packages for their return to Earth with a future mission.
Instead of crushing rock as the NASA Curiosity rover drill does, a Perseverance drill will cut entire rock cores that are about the size of a piece of chalk and place them in sample tubes that they store until the rover reached a proper fall- off place on Mars. The rover could also deliver the samples to a lawyer who is part of the Mars sample return mission by NASA and ESA (European Space Agency).
Once the samples are here on Earth, we can study them with oversized and complex instruments for sending them to Mars, providing far more information about them than even they could. the most sophisticated rover.
5. Perseverance carries instruments and technology that help pave the way for human missions to the Moon and Mars.
Future-looking technologies on this mission that will benefit human study include Relationship Navigation. As part of the spacecraft’s landing system, Terrestrial Navigation will allow the descending spacecraft to quickly and independently understand its location over the Martian surface and changing its course.
Surface durability will have more independence than any other rover, incorporating self-propelled equipment that will allow it to cover more ground in day-to-day work with fewer instructions from engineers on Earth. This fast-moving capability will make studying the Moon, Mars, and other square bodies more efficient for other vehicles.
In addition, Perseverance is conducting a technology test called MOXIE (short for In-Situ Mars Oxygen Utilization Test) that removes oxygen from Mars’ carbon dioxide atmosphere. It will show a way in which future researchers could make oxygen to a rocket engine as well as to breathe.
Two other instruments will help engineers design systems for future human researchers to land and live on Mars: The MEDLI2 package (Mars Entry, Descendant, and Landing Instrument 2) is a version of the next generation of the flew on a Mars Science Lab mission delivered by the Curiosity rover, while the MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer) series of instruments provides information on weather, climate, and ultraviolet surface and dust radiation.
Perseverance also takes a trip to the Mars Ingenuity helicopter. A technology test separate from the rover’s science mission, Ingenuity will attempt to be the first controlled, controlled flight of another world. If the helicopter succeeds in its 30-Martian-day (31-Earth-day) display window, the data could help future studies of the Red Planet – including those with astronauts – by adding a new air volume.
6. The Perseverance rover embodies NASA’s – and scientific – spirit of overcoming challenges.
Getting the spacecraft to the launch pad during a pandemic, finding signs of an old life, collecting samples, and testing new technologies is not an easy task. Nor is it a soft move on Mars: Only about 50% of Martian landing attempts, by any space agency, have been successful.
The mission team draws inspiration from the name of its rover, with a particular awareness of the challenges the entire world is currently facing. With that in mind, the mission submitted a special record to honor the commitment and hard work of the medical community and first responders across the globe. The team hopes to inspire the whole world, and future researchers, to create new paths and discover discoveries on which the next generation can build.
7. You get cycling.
The Mars 2020 sustainability mission will carry more cameras than any interplanetary mission in history, with 19 cameras on the rover itself and four on other parts of the spacecraft involved in entry, rescue and landing . Similar to previous Mars missions, the Mars 2020 Sustainability mission plans to provide raw and processed images on the mission website.
If all goes well, the public will be able to experience a high definition of what it is like to land on Mars – and hear the sounds of landing for the first time. with an off-the-shelf microphone attached to the side of the rover. Another microphone on SuperCam will help scientists understand the properties of the rocks the instrument is studying and they can listen to the wind as well.
If you are among the 10.9 million people who have signed up to send your name to Mars, your name is stenciled on one of three silicon chips rooted on a plate on the rover carrying the words “Search as One” in Morse Code.
You can also follow the adventures of Perseverance on social media via @NASAPersevere and @NASAMars on Twitter and Facebook, and the hashtag #CountdownToMars.
JPL is a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California.
For more about Sustainability, visit:
https://mars.nasa.gov/perseverance
https://nasa.gov/perseverance
Contact news media
Cook Jia-Rui
Jet Dedication Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-0724
[email protected]
Alana Johnson / Gray Hautaluoma
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668
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