History will be written once again as NASA’s fifth mars rover, PERSEVERANCE touches the red planet at 2:25 AM IST on 19 Feb 2021 (18 Feb, 3:55 PM EST). Amid the pandemic, all science enthusiasts including me are thrilled to hear the news of the successful landing of Perseverance. Even though this is not the first mission in which humans exploring beyond the Moon, but this mission has more importance for the science world. The main aim of this mission is to find the Biosignatures on the red planet and study the geology and climate of the field site.
How do rover land?
The rover will dive through the martian atmosphere with a speed of about 20,000 kph and slow down its speed to 3kph with the help of a parachute and powered descent. The aeroshell (a combination of back shell and heat shield) protect the rover when it plunges through the atmosphere. During the sky crane manoeuvre, the descent stage will lower the car-size rover to the martian surface using three cables. The rover will be landing at Jazero crater(45 km wide basin) which is believed to be a lake in the past. Thus, it makes a perfect place to find evidence of microbial life. The Tricky terrain of mars makes it hard to land the rover but the new technologies used in rover will avoid landing issues autonomously.
What all things make Perseverance extra special?
- Ingenuity-the mars helicopter which is a technology-experiment developed by NASA scientists. It will become the first rotorcraft ever to fly beyond earth. This paves a way for aerial exploration too.
- The rover is equipped with robotic arms so that it can collect martian rock and soil. In future missions, the collected samples will be returned to earth.
- MOXIE(Mars Oxygen In-situ Resource Utilization Experiment)- An instrument that produce oxygen from Carbon-dioxide dominated martian atmosphere
- SHERLOC(Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals)- An instrument that can detect organic matter and minerals.
- PIXL(Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry)- An instrumemt which maps the chemical compositon of martian rocks and soil.
- RIMFAX(Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment)- Use radar waves to examine geological features.
- Terrain-Relative Navigation – Enable the spacecraft to autonomously understand the location over martian surface and modify its trajectory.
- MEDA(Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer – Instrument that provides indormation about weather, climate, and surface ultraviolet radiation and dust.
- MEDLI2(Mars Science Laboratory Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation 2) – It is next-generation version of what flew on the Mars Science Laboratory mission that delivered the Curiosity rover
- SuperCam- Use laser to destroy the martian rocks and study the composition from resulting vapor particles.
- Mastcam-Z – Camera that can zoom in on rock textures at a large distance
- Rover carries 19 cameras, 3 color cameras on back shell, 1 color camera on descent stage and microphones
- MMRTG(Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) – converts heat from the natural radioactive decay of plutonium-238 into a steady flow of electricity
Moreover, the names of 10.9 million people stencilled on silicon chips embedded on a plate on a rover with the words “Explore as one” in Morse code. Congratulations!, if you are one among the participants in the “Send Your Name to Mars” online campaign. If you missed the chance before, not be sad. You can send your name on a future Mars mission. Don’t miss out the chance again! Sign up and send your name at:
https://mars.nasa.gov/participate/send-your-name/mars2020
NASA invites citizens across the globe to join hands with them to celebrate the landing of Perseverance on Red planet. Various places like The Empire State Building in Newyork, The Los Angeles International Airport gateway and Adler Planetarium recognising the upcoming landing by “Lightning the Town Red”. NASA is also conducting virtual activities and competition through various platforms to spice up the celebration vibe. Together we can celebrate #CountdownToMars.
Watch the Live in NASA YouTube Channel.
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