NASA Nails It! Marvellous Mars Mission
25/2/2021
NASA has just succeeded in landing another rover (With! Added Helicopter!) on the surface of Mars.
I have created a selection of coverage of this great technological achievement. I can't add much to it, and haven't tried.
I have created a selection of coverage of this great technological achievement. I can't add much to it, and haven't tried.
Perseverance is a car-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Jezero crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission. It was manufactured by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched on July 30, 2020, at 11:50 UTC. Confirmation that the rover successfully landed on Mars was received on February 18, 2021, at 20:55 UTC.
Update 2024: - As of 19 February 2024, Perseverance has been active on Mars for 1066 sols (1,096 Earth days, or 3 years and 1 day) since its landing.
Update 2024: - As of 19 February 2024, Perseverance has been active on Mars for 1066 sols (1,096 Earth days, or 3 years and 1 day) since its landing.
The Perseverance rover has four main science objectives that support the Mars Exploration Program's science goals:
The second campaign will include several months of travel towards the "Three Forks" where Perseverance can access geologic locations at the base of the ancient delta of Neretva river, as well as ascend the delta by driving up a valley wall to the northwest.
The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter, powered by solar-charged batteries. With a mass of 1.8 kg, the helicopter is to demonstrate the reality of flight in the rarefied Martian atmosphere and the potential usefulness of aerial scouting for rover missions. It carries two cameras but no scientific instruments and will communicate with Earth via a base station onboard Perseverance.
(Update Feb. 2024: - Ingenuity's pre-launch experimental test plan was three flights in 45 days, but it far exceeded expectations and made 72 flights in nearly three years. On January 18, 2024 (UTC), it made its 72nd and final flight, suffering damage to its rotor blades on landing, causing NASA to retire it.)
- Looking for habitability: identify past environments that were capable of supporting microbial life.
- Seeking biosignatures: seek signs of possible past microbial life in those habitable environments, particularly in specific rock types known to preserve signs over time.
- Caching samples: collect core rock and regolith (unconsolidated and loose "soil") samples and store them within the rover and on the Martian surface (as a backup) for delivery to a future sample return rocket.
- Preparing for humans: test oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere.
The second campaign will include several months of travel towards the "Three Forks" where Perseverance can access geologic locations at the base of the ancient delta of Neretva river, as well as ascend the delta by driving up a valley wall to the northwest.
The rover also carries the Ingenuity helicopter, powered by solar-charged batteries. With a mass of 1.8 kg, the helicopter is to demonstrate the reality of flight in the rarefied Martian atmosphere and the potential usefulness of aerial scouting for rover missions. It carries two cameras but no scientific instruments and will communicate with Earth via a base station onboard Perseverance.
(Update Feb. 2024: - Ingenuity's pre-launch experimental test plan was three flights in 45 days, but it far exceeded expectations and made 72 flights in nearly three years. On January 18, 2024 (UTC), it made its 72nd and final flight, suffering damage to its rotor blades on landing, causing NASA to retire it.)
The NASA feed above is set to start just as descent to the surface of Mars begins
Update; - February 2024. Youtube's algorithm saw fit to suggest to me this news site's presentation of video from the landing's components.