American rover successfully landed on the Mars
The landing was at Jezero crater and this site was chosen for several reasons. According to Wikipedia: “Thought to have once been flooded with water, the crater contains a fan-delta deposit rich in clays. The lake in the crater was present when valley networks were forming on Mars. … Life may have developed in the crater since it is believed the lake was long-lived, the delta may have required a period of 1,000,000 to 10,000,000 years to form”.
Landing continued about 7 minutes. Those minutes were very frightening to the operation’s team due to the automatic mode. As soon as the rover transmitted the signal of a successful landing, the silence among the scientists changed to applause and triumph. As the specialists of the department noted, to reduce the speed of the apparatus, its parachute opened, then the casing of the rover designed to protect it from the effects of high temperatures was detached. At the last stage of the landing, the brake motors started working. From it, the device was lowered to the surface of the planet on ropes. Same landing schema NASA used in 2012 during the descent of the Curiosity rover.
“Landing on Mars is always an incredibly difficult task and we are proud to continue building on our past success,” said JPL Director Michael Watkins. “But, while Perseverance advances that success, this rover is also blazing its own path and daring new challenges in the surface mission. We built the rover not just to land but to find and collect the best scientific samples for return to Earth, and it’s incredibly complex sampling system and autonomy not only enable that mission, they set the stage for future robotic and crewed missions”.
Perseverance in the NASA names as astrobiology robot. Today, this is the biggest and technically advanced rover sent to the surface of the Red Planet. Apparatus got 23 special cameras with an advanced navigation system, extreme installation, that will collect the sample of Mars air, and 2 microphones thanks to which humanity can hear for the first time how Mars sounds. Moreover, for the first time in the mission to Mars, there will be a drone — a 1.8-kg Ingenuity mini-helicopter. With the help of a drone, they plan to work out the technology of such flights. The total cost of building and launching the rover is estimated as $ 2.1-2.7 billion.
The main purpose of Perseverance in Mars — astrobiology research, including looking for signs of ancient microbial life. Rover would characterize the geology and climate of the planet in past, also it will be the first mission that will collect and store Martian rocks, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
Perseverance should place samples of the soil and rocks in 40 special containers. It is planned that most of them in 2026 will be taken by another rover. The containers are expected to be loaded onto a special launch vehicle that will put them into orbit on Mars. Further, the samples will be picked up by another apparatus, which should deliver them to Earth. NASA expects this to happen in the 2030s.
References and further reading
1. «Jezero (crater) — Wikipedia» https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jezero_(crater)
2. «Марсоход NASA преодолел 235 миллионов километров» (2020, 3 Ноя)
https://spacebestnews.blogspot.com/2020/11/nasa-235.html
3. «Touchdown! NASA's Mars Perseverance Rover Safely Lands on Red Planet» (2021, 19 Feb)
https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/touchdown-nasas-mars-perseverance-rover-safely-lands-on-red-planet
4. «NASA has received images taken at the time of the landing of the Perseverance rover on the Red Planet» (2021, 20 Feb) https://freenews.live/nasa-has-received-images-taken-at-the-time-of-the-landing-of-the-perseverance-rover-on-the-red-planet/
Author: Shakaralieva Leyla, 8M
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