In just 57 days, NASA’s Perseverance rover will attempt to land on Mars. Mission managers say it will be “seven minutes of horror,” as this new photo unfolds in stunning fashion.
Produced by NASA’s Jet Dedication Lab, the digital animation features key events in the time of entry, descent and landing (EDL) of the Perseverance rover. The video is just over three minutes long of length, not much shorter than the lying-down stage itself, which should take about seven minutes. Sustainability launched on July 30th, and will play the EDL on Feb. 18, 2021 at 3:30 pm EST.
The $ 2.7 billion rover will land at the Jezero crater, the site of an ancient lake and river delta. Equipped with its many instruments, Perseverance looks for traces of microbial life, studies Martian weather and geology, and collects samples for future mission retrieval. The rover also uses Ingenuity, a tiny helicopter ready to be the first human plane to fly on an alien world.
Of course, perseverance must keep coming ashore until this happens. In fact, Mars is notorious for completing missions before they have a chance to start – the ESA failed Schiaparelli’s mission in 2017 has been a recent example.
The first phase of the EDL will see the elimination of the tour platform, which will contain solar panels, radios, and fuel tanks to be used on the way to the Red Planet. The descent rate, as Sustainability approaching the atmosphere, firing small thrushes on its back to properly steer the vehicle, and to ensure the heat shield is facing forward. The descent level then sees the rover look through the thin Martian atmosphere at speeds reaching 12,000 mph (19,312) kph), according to to NASA. If this level goes as expected, the interior of the craft should not be warmer than room temperature.
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A supersonic parachute is used once the descent rate slows to at least 1,000 mph (1,609 kph). NASA will discuss a new system, the Range motivation, to determine the optimal moment of use of the parachute, which should occur approximately 240 seconds after atmospheric entry. The heat shield will then go as it is no more feum exposing the rover to the Martian atmosphere for the first time.
Another new piece of technology, called Land Address, they use video cameras and maps to choose the safest place to land.
At most, the parachute slows the vehicle down to about 200 mph (322 kph), which requires power saving. With a permanence of 6,900 feet (2,100 meters) above the surface, the rocket-powered descent will begin, slowing down the craft to 2 mph which is very easy to control. (3.2 kph). The sky mast then slowly lowers the 2,260-pound (1,025-kilograms) surface movement, which he does using a set of 21-foot-long (6.4-meters long) cables. The sky mast cuts the cables once it senses a landing, and then a clean zip from the target site.
Only then the true fun will begin as the rover will be free to explore the Martian surface. The permanence mission is expected to last for two years, but as precedent has shown, ecit should last much longer. NASA’s Curiosity rover, for example, landed on Mars in 2012, and is still going strong. We’re really looking forward to the Sustainability mission, but first things first: He has to survive those seven minutes of horror.