Tag: Perseverance Rover

Mars Helicopter Goes the Distance in Third Flight

Article by Mike Wall                                               April 25, 2021                                              (space.com)

• On February 18th, NASA’s Perseverance rover along with the Ingenuity helicopter landed together inside the 28-mile-wide Jezero Crater on Mars. On April 3rd, the small helicopter deployed from the rover’s belly, kicking off a month-long flight campaign. On April 19th the solar-powered helicopter made its 39-second vertical test flight reaching a maximum altitude of about 16.5 feet. On April 22nd, Ingenuity repeated the initial test, but stayed aloft for nearly 52 seconds while moving side-to-side a total of 13 feet. NASA receives the Ingenuity helicopter’s communications data through the Perseverance rover which is relayed to Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) mission control in Pasadena, California.

• On April 25th, the four pound Ingenuity helicopter reached the same 16.5 feet altitude, but increased its airspeed from 0.5 meters per second to 2 meters per second (about 4.5 mph), traveling 164 feet north, then returning to its launch pad, dubbed ‘Wright Brothers Field’. Officials at NASA’s JPL mission control tweeted: “Third flight in the history books.” “ The space chopper is demonstrating critical capabilities that could enable the addition of an aerial dimension to future missions to Mars & beyond.”

• The Ingenuity helicopter mission proves that aerial exploration is possible on Mars. Although Mars has an atmosphere only 1% as dense as that of Earth at sea level, Mars helicopters could serve as scouts on future Red Planet missions, and also gathering data themselves. But this time, Ingenuity is not doing any science work. It is only attempting to demonstrate that it can fly. Ingenuity does carry a 13-megapixel color camera to snap photos of the Perseverance rover’s tire tracks on Mars.

• The JPL ‘Ingenuity team’ hopes to get in two more flights by early May. These last two sorties will likely be “really adventurous,” Ingenuity project manager MiMi Aung said during a news conference earlier this month, stressing that she and her colleagues want to push the little chopper’s limits. Then that will be it for Ingenuity. Perseverance will then begin to focus on the rover’s own science mission with two main tasks: hunting for signs of ancient Mars life inside the Jezero crater, which hosted a lake and river delta long ago; and collecting samples to return to Earth at a later time.

 

                     Perseverance rover

Make it a hat trick on the Red Planet for NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity.

The 4-lb. (1.8 kilograms) chopper aced its third-ever Martian flight early this morning (April 25), adding to its already impressive resume.

“Third flight in the history books.” officials at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California wrote on Twitter. “Our #MarsHelicopter continues to set records, flying faster and farther. The space chopper is demonstrating critical capabilities that could enable the addition of an aerial dimension to future missions to Mars & beyond.”

                           MiMi Aung

And today’s sortie was significantly more complex than Ingenuity’s previous two

Ingenuity helicopter’s first aerial color image

flights, which took place on Monday (April 19) and Thursday (April 22), respectively. On its historic, 39-second debut hop — the first powered, controlled flight for an aircraft on a world beyond Earth — the solar-powered helicopter went straight up and down and reached a maximum altitude of about 16.5 feet (5 meters).

Ingenuity went about that high on flight number two but stayed up for nearly 52 seconds and moved side-to-side a total of 13 feet (4 m).

“For the third flight, we’re targeting the same altitude, but we are going to open things up a bit, too, increasing our max airspeed from 0.5 meters per second to 2 meters per second (about 4.5 mph) as we head 50 meters (164 feet) north and return to land at Wright Brothers Field,” Ingenuity chief pilot Håvard Grip, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, wrote in a blog post Friday (April 23). (The Ingenuity team named the chopper’s flight zone after aviation pioneers Wilbur and Orville Wright.)

3:08 minute video of rover and helicopter video footage of Mars (‘Mars Mission’ YouTube)

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover’s Test Drive on Mars

Article by Jesse O’Neill                                            March 5, 2021                                            (nypost.com)

• On March 4th, NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover (pictured above) took its first test drive of about 21 feet on Mars. For thirty-three minutes, the rover negotiated turns and backed up into a new parking space at a snail’s pace, officials said. The mobility test is one of many milestones to check off Perseverance’s do-to list, as team members calibrate every system and instrument on the rover. When scientists decide all systems are ‘go’, the rover will begin regularly driving the length of several football fields at a time.

• “When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first-time events that measure up in significance to that of the first drive,” said Anais Zarifian, Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mobility test bed engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “The rover’s six-wheel drive responded superbly. We are now confident our drive system is good to go, capable of taking us wherever the science leads us over the next two years.”

• Since the February 18th Mars landing, mission controllers have also completed software updates, deployed Perseverance’s wind sensors and tested the rover’s 7-foot-long robotic arm. The rover is now poised to begin more complicated missions, including finding a launch site for its mini helicopter next month.

• Scientists hope its multi-year mission gathering Mars samples and data will provide insight into the region’s geology and climate history, and determine if life once existed on the planet. Perseverance will ultimately prepare astronauts for human exploration on Mars.

 

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover took its first test drive on Mars Thursday,

                           Anais Zarifian

covering about 21 feet of the extraterrestrial landscape, the space agency said.

The mobility test is one of many milestones to check off Perseverance’s do-to list, as team members calibrate every system and instrument on the rover.

When scientists decide all systems are go, it will begin regularly driving the length of several football fields at a time.

“When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first-time events that measure up in significance to that of the first drive,” said Anais Zarifian, Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mobility test bed engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“This was our first chance to ‘kick the tires’ and take Perseverance out for a spin. The rover’s six-wheel drive responded superbly. We are now confident our drive system is good to go, capable of taking us wherever the science leads us over the next two years.”

The drive lasted about 33 minutes, as the rover negotiated turns and backed up into a new parking space at a snail’s pace, officials said.

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Incredible Perseverance Rover Mars Landing

Article by Ashley Strickland                                            February 19, 2021                                             (cnn.com)

UPDATED

• On Thursday February 18th, NASA’s Perseverance rover reached Mars’ thin atmosphere. The rover’s ‘jetpack’ lowered the rover on tethers near to the planet’s surface where the rover disengaged from the jetpack and descended by parachute to the ground. Meanwhile, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (which has been orbiting Mars since 2006) flew overhead taking pictures of the descent and landing. The orbiter will relay data from the rover on the ground to the science team back on Earth. The rover and its jetpack were also snapping images along the way.

• While the first images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera on Thursday evening were black and white glimpses showing the rover safely landing on Mars, by Friday color images of the ‘Red Planet’ were being transmitted from the rover itself.

• Perseverance landed about 1.2 miles away from the Jezero Crater river delta, which hosted a lake 3.9 billion years ago. The rover switched over to the software it will use while driving on the Martian surface where it will spend the next two years investigating the crater and delta in search for evidence of ancient life that may have existed when Mars was a more habitable place.

• These first images shared during a NASA press conference were “exhilarating” for the team. A camera on the descent stage of the rover spacecraft captured a unique perspective. “This shot from a camera on my jetpack captures me in midair, just before my wheels touched down,” related the Perseverance rover on its Perseverance Twitter account. “The moment that my team dreamed of for years, now a reality.” “An open horizon, with so much to explore. Can’t wait to get going,” the Perseverance account tweeted. ”Dare mighty things.”

• “The team is overwhelmed with excitement and joy to have successfully landed another rover on the surface of Mars,” said Adam Steltzner, the Perseverance rover’s chief engineer. “When we do such investments, we do them for humanity, and we do them as a gesture of our humanity.” “We can only hope, in our efforts to engineer spacecraft and explore our solar system, that we might be able contribute yet another iconic image to this collection, and I’m happy to say that I’m hopeful that today we can with this.”

• Aaron Stehura, deputy phase lead for entry, descent and landing also reflected on the moment the science team saw the image of the rover from the perspective of the ‘jetpack’ descent stage. “This is something that we’ve never seen before. It was stunning and the team was awestruck. And, you know, there’s just a feeling of victory that we’re able to capture these and share them with the world.” After the successful landing, members of the team celebrated with virtual parties, ice cream and the best night’s sleep they’ve have in a long time.

• “The rover is doing great and is healthy on the surface of Mars and continues to be highly functional and awesome,” said Pauline Hwang, strategic mission manager for the rover. This weekend, the rover will go through some hardware checkouts to make sure everything is working properly, Hwang said. The head, or mast, will unfold and cameras on the mast will capture more images of the rover’s surroundings to provide a panorama, as well as a “selfie” panorama of the rover.

• ‘Ingenuity’, the little helicopter tucked up under the rover, will also go through a checkup before embarking upon a series of test flights over a 30-day period, said Hwang. The Perseverance rover will drive to a predetermined helipad location, lower the helicopter to the ground, roll back away from the helicopter. and record images and video of these historic flights. Ingenuity also carries two cameras and will be able to share its aerial views.

• Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for the rover has been helping to lead a team of 450 scientists around the world as they prepare to explore the Jezero Crater. Now, they’re ready to study these images and plot out a path for the rover to use as it navigates the intriguing features of the crater. The rover will explore nearby rocks on the crater floor to determine if they are volcanic basalt or sedimentary rocks and investigate the presence of a mineral called olivine that could be an explosive ash deposit, Morgan said.

• Holes present in some the rocks visible in images taken by the rover could suggest either gas that escaped the rocks if they were formed from lava, or fluids that dissolved part of the rock if they’re sedimentary. “Between us and the delta, we have a lot of interesting science to do,” said Morgan. “As soon as we got that color image from the surface of Mars, our chats lit up with the science team saying ‘look over here’ and’ look over here.’ And that’s exactly what we were hoping for… [W]e can’t believe that we’re really doing science now on the surface of Mars.”

 

           Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter

After safely landing on the surface of Mars Thursday, NASA’s Perseverance rover has sent back a never-before-seen view: what it

                    Perseverance rover

looks like to land on Mars.

The rover also returned some beautiful postcards of its landing site.

The first image shared during a NASA press conference Friday was “exhilarating” for the team when they received it. It shows the rover nearing the Martian surface during entry, descent and landing. A camera on the descent stage of the spacecraft captured the perspective, something that wasn’t possible on previous missions.

            celebration in control room

“This shot from a camera on my ‘jetpack’ captures me in midair, just before my wheels touched down,” according to a tweet from the Perseverance Twitter account. “The moment that my team dreamed of for years, now a reality. Dare mighty things.”

                    Ingenuity helicopter

Little dust plumes can be seen kicking up from the Martian surface, stirred by the engines landing the rover when it was just 6.5 feet above the surface.

“The team is overwhelmed with excitement and joy to have successfully landed another rover on the surface of Mars,” said Adam Steltzner, the rover’s chief engineer. “When we do such investments, we do them for humanity, and we do them as a gesture of our humanity.”

                Adam Steltzner

Steltzner cited iconic space images from the Apollo mission, like Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon, Voyager’s first image of Saturn and the Hubble Space Telescope’s awe-inspiring “Pillars of Creation” photo.

                        Aaron Stehura

“We can only hope, in our efforts to engineer spacecraft and explore our solar system, that we might be able contribute yet another iconic image to this collection, and I’m happy to say that I’m hopeful that today we can with this.”

While the first images returned by the rover Thursday evening were black and white glimpses showing it safely landed on Mars, color images made available Friday show the characteristic red color of the Martian surface.

              Jezero Crater river delta

“An open horizon, with so much to explore. Can’t wait to get going,” the Perseverance account tweeted.

      Katie Stack Morgan

Rocks are also seen scattered across the flat surface of the landing site in Jezero Crater, but they’re small when compared to the large rover wheels.

Rocks spotted by the rover have holes in them — which has the scientists curious to see what would cause them.

Another tweet with the image read, “I love rocks. Look at these right next to my wheel. Are they volcanic or sedimentary? What story do they tell? Can’t wait to find out.”

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE camera, which flew over the landing site as Perseverance was coming in for a landing, captured an incredible view as the spacecraft’s parachutes opened.

“The Beauty of Flight! HiRISE captured this image of @NASAPersevere on its way to the landing site from over 700 km (435 mi) away!” the HiRISE account tweeted.

4:15 minute summary of the NASA Perseverance Mars landing (‘TODAY’ YouTube)

2:43 minute depiction of the Ingenuity helicopter (‘WKMG News 6 Orlando’ YouTube)

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How the Mars Perseverance Rover Will Get to the Red Planet

Article by Chris Ciaccia July 29, 2020 (nypost.com)

• On July 30th, NASA’s $2.1 billion ‘Perseverance’ rover (pictured above) set out for Mars, along with the first helicopter to travel to Mars, known as ‘Ingenuity’. Among other tasks, the rover and the helicopter will be looking for signs of extraterrestrial life. The Perseverance will land at the Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, joining the still-functioning Curiosity rover and the now-deceased Opportunity rover. NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

• Like its predecessors, Perseverance is powered by a nuclear energy system known as ‘Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator’ thanks to the US Department of Energy. Says Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and National Nuclear Security Administratior Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty, “From preparing astronauts for cratered terrain to building boxes for moon rocks to providing electricity from nuclear sources, I’m proud to say that we’ve lent our unique expertise for exploration of the solar system… for nearly 60 years.”

• In 2014, the Department’s Office of Nuclear Energy with Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory were tasked to construct the multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator and its plutonium fuel to power the Perseverance rover. But the Department of Energy partnership with NASA goes back to the 1960s when the DoE provided radioisotope power systems to the Apollo missions, said DoE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar to Fox News.

• Radioisotope power systems provide a steady power source in parts of the solar system that are dark or dusty. The Spirit and Opportunity rovers used Radioisotope Heater Units with a mission life of 7 and 14 years respectively, significantly longer than the 3-month primary mission lifetime. Curiosity is still going strong 7 years, over 3 times the primary mission timeline. The two longest-operating radioisotope power system missions are Voyager I and II, which are still in operation 43 years later.

• Perseverance’s ‘SuperCam’ was designed, built and tested at DoE’s Los Alamos National Laboratory in partnership with the French space agency, Centre national d’études spatiales (National Center for Space Studies). It uses laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy to study mineral composition, hardness and texture of Martian rocks and soils and will search for organic compounds related to Mars’ geologic past.

• The DoE’s Office of Science facilities also support the study of materials returned from NASA space missions to Mars, including the use of X-ray and electron imaging to study the form and shape of rock samples and various spectroscopy techniques to reveal the chemical composition.

 

            Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty

After it was delayed three times to iron out issues, NASA’s Perseverance rover is slated on July 30 to head to Mars, where it will perform a number of tasks, including looking for fossilized evidence of extraterrestrial life.

                        Paul Dabbar

The $2.1 billion rover will also come with the first helicopter, known as Ingenuity, that will let researchers understand the viability and potential of heavier-than-air vehicles on the Red Planet. NASA’s long-term goal is to send a manned mission to Mars in the 2030s.

Once Perseverance lands on Mars at the Jezero Crater on Feb. 18, 2021, it will join the still functioning Curiosity rover and the now-deceased Opportunity rover on the Red Planet.

Similar to its predecessors, Perseverance is being powered by a nuclear energy system known as Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), thanks to the Department of Energy. However, using nuclear power isn’t anything new for NASA.

The National Nuclear Security Administration has “supported NASA missions for nearly 60 years,” Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator Lisa E. Gordon-Hagerty told Fox News.

“From preparing astronauts for cratered terrain to building boxes for moon rocks to providing electricity from nuclear sources, I’m proud to say that we’ve lent our unique expertise for exploration of the solar system,” Gordon-Hagerty added.

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Three Mars Launches This Month in Hope of Finding Alien Life

Article by Sean Martin                              July 7, 2020                              (express.co.uk)

• The United States, China and the United Arab Emirates all have Mars launches scheduled this month.

• Between July 20 and July 25th, the China National Space Agency will launch an orbiter known as Tianwen-1, which translates to ‘the quest for heavenly truth’ to circle the Red Planet for a year. The rocket will also carry a rover vehicle that will land on the Martian surface and collect soil samples. The oribter will serve as a communications relay for the lander.

• The UAE will launch an orbiter named ‘The Hope’, which will spend two years orbiting Mars. The UAE’s primary objective is to flex its financial muscle and show the world that it is capable of in space exploration.

• On July 30th, NASA will send the Perseverance Rover to roam the Red Planet looking for signs of life – both past and present. The main instrument, the ‘Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals’ (or ‘SHERLOC’), will be mounted on the end of one of the Mars rover’s robotic arms. SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground, and scientists will measure how the light scatters when it hits the ground to determine its mineral and chemical compounds. This will identify the spectral “fingerprint” of certain alien organic material for signs of past or present life. “Life is clumpy,” said NASA’s Luther Beegle. “If we see organics clumping together on one part of a rock, it might be a sign that microbes thrived there in the past.”

• Earth and Mars are currently at their closest orbital points in the solar system. So now is the optimal time to make the relatively short journey – which will still take up to six months.

 

                   China’s Tianwen-1

THREE countries are set to launch rockets to Mars this months as the search for life on the Red Planet is turned up a notch.

          The UAE’s ‘The Hope’ orbiter

China, the US and the UAE are all gearing up for historic Mars launches this month with the hopes of discovering more about Earth’s dusty neighbour. Starting with China, the new space force will be launching an orbiter known as Tianwen-1, which translates to ‘the quest for heavenly truth’ to circle to Red Planet. The orbiter will spend a year around Mars, serving as a communication relay for humanity’s eventual arrival with the launch date scheduled between July 20 and July 25.

Alongside the orbiter, China will send a rover to roam the surface of the Red Planet and collect soil samples.

           NASA’s Perseverance Rover

China National Space Agency (CNSA) chief mission architect Zhang Rongqiao said: “Our goal is to explore and gather as much scientific data as possible.”

The UAE is also launching an orbiter named The Hope, which will spend two years orbiting Mars, following a 200-day journey.

According to The Hill, the UAE’s primary objective is to flex its financial muscle and show the world what it is capable of in the space exploration industry as the appeal of oil, which UAE has in abundance, loses its appeal.

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Perseverance Rover Instruments to Search for Alien Life

Article by Tom Fish                            May 28, 2020                            (express.co.uk)

• NASA plans to launch a Mars rover mission on July 17, 2020 to arrive on Mars’ surface on February 18, 2021. The space agency has provided new insights about the sensors that will be used on its 2020 Perseverance Rover while it traverses the Martian surface in search of evidence of alien life. A cutting-edge camera and a unique ultraviolet laser will work in tandem to analyze the chemical and mineral makeup of the Red Planet’s soil. Experts hope this can track down potential signs of past alien life.

• The main instrument, called ‘SHERLOC’ (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) will be mounted on the end of one of the Mars rover’s robotic arms. SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground to enable scientists to measure the way the light scatters, in order to identify a spectral “fingerprint” revealing certain organic material and to determine what kind of minerals and chemical compounds the soil is made from. “If we see organics clumping together on one part of a rock, it might be a sign that microbes thrived there in the past,” said NASA’s Luther Beegle.

• SHERLOC will work with ‘WATSON’ (Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering), another instrument that will help with the light-scattering spectroscopy and allow the Mars rover’s remote pilots to identify promising areas of the ground from which to collect samples. WATSON can also be rotated to take selfies of the Perseverance and to keep track of the rover’s condition. The Perseverance 2020 Rover will also monitor the effects of radiation on samples of human space suit fabric and helmet material to determine whether it is safe to use. The rover’s robotic arm will place the samples in half-inch wide metal tubes that will be left on Mars’ surface for a subsequent Mars mission crew to retrieve and return to Earth for detailed analysis.

 

US-based space agency NASA has offered new insights about the sensors used on its 2020 Perseverance rover while it traverses the Martian surface in

    NASA’s Luther Beegle

search of evidence of basic forms of alien life. A cutting-edge powered camera and a unique ultraviolet laser will work in tandem to monitor the Red Planet’s soil to analyse its chemical and mineral makeup.

The main instrument, the Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC), will be mounted on the end of one of the Mars rover’s robotic arms.

SHERLOC will emit a quarter-sized ultraviolet laser at the ground.

Space scientists will then measure the way the light scatters when it hits the ground to work out what kind of minerals and chemical compounds it is made from.

The technique will also identify the unique spectral “fingerprint” certain alien organic material might give off.

Extraterrestrial life experts hope this can track down potential signs of past alien life.

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