Vinciane Debaille, a Belgian researcher, is one of the five European scientists who have been selected to participate in NASA’s “Mars 2020” project. The objective: to send a robot to Mars to learn more about the red planet, as it is nicknamed.
It is undoubtedly a great source of pride for Vinciane Debaille, researcher at the Free University of Brussels. She was chosen to be one of five European scientists, selected via the European Space Agency, who will participate in the “Mars 2020” mission of NASA (the American space agency).
Rover Perseverance
For this “Mars 2020” mission, there is no question of sending men to Mars. We are not yet ready for this. It is therefore a robot that will fly in the direction of the red planet. Called Perseverance, this rover (space exploration vehicle) is expected to leave Earth between July 30 and August 15, to land on Mars in February 2021.
Once there, the robot will have to analyze the geology (the elements that make up the soil and the subsoil) Martian. He will also have to drill about thirty cores (cylinder-shaped samples) of rocks. These will be kept in metal tubes until scientists can study them, once they return to Earth.
Unfortunately, a round trip to Mars takes a long time. The samples that the Perseverance rover will take can only be studied in 5 to 10 years! It will take time for another robot to come and get the tubes and another spacecraft to bring the samples back to our planet.
Responsabilities
As a researcher participating in the mission, Vinciane Debaille will have great responsibilities. His job will consist of piloting the robot remotely, documenting the observations made during the mission or even processing and analyzing the data that will be collected by Perseverance. It will also participate in drilling decisions (choice of locations and types of rocks to be examined).
Find answers
If NASA is sending Perseverance to Mars, it is to learn more about the history of the Red Planet. The analysis of rock samples should allow scientists to answer fundamental questions, whether about the possible (past) presence of a form of life on Mars or about the geological and volcanic evolution of the planet.
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