The spacecraft has begun its approach to the Red Planet and in 43 days, on February 18, 2021. The force that will be used to penetrate the Martian atmosphere is about 12,100 mph (19,500 kph).
“We are working on our latest to put Persistence in the perfect position to land in one of the most exciting places on Mars,” said Fernando Abilleira, deputy mission manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Built and managed by JPL for NASA, Persistence will join forces with other explorers and landers currently working on Mars, with some orbiting in the skies above.
1. Look for signs of life
While scientists have learned from previous NASA missions that the Red Planet once had running water and a warmer environment on the surface that could support microbial life.
The robotics will play a very important role in looking for potential signs of past lives
The instrument will allow scientists to analyze these features together at a higher level of detail that previous Mars explorers achieved.
Robotic will also use several instruments to collect data remotely using the Mastcam-Z camera to measure rock texture from a distance, while SuperCam will use lasers to hit rock and regolith (rock fragments and dust) to study its composition in the steam generated.
As well as using RIMFAX (Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment) will use radar waves to feature geological features underground.
2. Explorers land at a very high place
Thanks to new technologies that make it possible to more accurately set the location and autonomously avoid landing hazards, the spacecraft can safely land in places of interest such as the Jezero Crater, a 28-mile (45-kilometer wide) basin, which has steep cliffs, sand dunes. , and a large expanse of rock.
More than 3.5 billion years ago, a river there flowed into a body of air the size of Lake Tahoe, depositing sediment in the form of fans known as deltas.
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The science team believes these ancient river deltas and lake deposits could collect and preserve organic molecules and other potential signs of microbial life.
3. Gather important data about the geology and climate of Mars
The Mars orbiter has collected images and data of the Jezero Crater from about 200 miles (322 kilometers) above, but found signs of life on the surface that warrant closer examination.
Understanding Mars’ past climatic conditions and reading the geological history embedded in its rocks will give scientists a richer understanding of what the planet was like in the past.
Studying the geology and climate of the Red Planet can also give us an idea of why Earth and Mars broke apart from their early parts so different.
4. The first stage of the return journey to Mars
The verification of ancient life on Mars carries a huge burden of proof. Perseverance is the first trip to take a sample cache system to Mars to store samples returned to Earth on future missions.
Instead of crushing rock as NASA’s Curiosity rover did, the Perseverance drill would cut through an intact rock core that was roughly the size of chalk and would place it in a sample tube that would be stored until the rover reached the appropriate droplets from a location on Mars.
The rover also sends samples to landers which are part of a Mars sampling campaign planned by NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency).
Once the samples are on Earth, we can check them with instruments and provide more information about them that even the most advanced explorers can.
5. Bringing instruments and technology that will help pave the way for humans to the Moon and Mars
In the field of forward-looking technology in a mission that will benefit human exploration is Terrain Relative Navigation.
As part of the spacecraft’s landing system, Relative Terrain Navigation will allow a rapidly descending spacecraft to independently understand understanding above Mars and change its trajectory.
Perseverance will also have more autonomy on the surface of other explorers, including self-driving intelligence that will allow it to cover more places in day-to-day operations with less of the engineers on Earth.
This fast-crossing capability will make exploration of the Moon, Mars and other celestial bodies more efficient for other vehicles.
In addition, Persistence carries an experimental technology called MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) which will produce oxygen from the atmosphere of Martian carbon dioxide.
This will show how future explorers can produce oxygen for rocket propellants as well as for breathing.
Two other instruments will help design systems for future human journey to survive and survive on Mars.
The MEDLI2 (Mars Entry, Descent, and Landing Instrumentation 2) package is the next version of what flies on the Mars Science Laboratory mission exploring Curiosity’s journey, while the MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer) suite of instruments provides information on weather, climate, and ultraviolet radiation. surface and dust.
Perseverance also gives a ride to the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter. Separate technology experiments from rover science missions, intelligence will try another world’s first controlled and powered aircraft.
If helicopters are successful in building Mars, the data could help future exploration of the Red Planet including those carried out by astronauts by adding new air dimensions.
6. The Perseverance rover embodies NASA
Getting a spacecraft to the runway during a pandemic, looking for signs of ancient life, collecting samples, and proving new technology is easy.
Nor is it a soft touchdown on Mars, only about 50% of Mars landings, by any space agency, are successful.
The mission team draws inspiration from the name of their explorer, with a special awareness of the challenges the whole world sees today.
With that in mind, it is specially prepared to honor the dedication and hard work of the medical community and first responders around the world.
The team hopes to inspire the rest of the world, and future explorers, to forge new paths and make discoveries that the next generation can build on.
7. Participate
The Mars 2020 mission brings more interplanetary mission cameras in history, with 19 cameras on the rover itself and empathy in other parts of the spacecraft involved in entry, descent, and landing.
Like previous Mars missions, the Mars 2020 mission plans to make raw images available on the mission website.
If it goes smoothly, people will be able to experience in high definition what it feels like on Mars and hear landing sounds for the first time with a ready-made microphone mounted on the side of the vehicle.
Other microphones on SuperCam will help scientists understand the properties of the rock on which the instrument can listen to the wind. arn
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