Landing on Mars is difficult. So, you’ll want to watch tomorrow when Perseverance (formerly called Mars 2020) becomes, hopefully, the first artificial object to land on the red planet since the launch of Insight Mars in 2018. It will be the first rover since Curiosity hit in 2012. Due to landing in Jezero crater, just north of the equator of Mars, Perseverance carries a number of scientific tools to collect soil samples and look for signs of ancient life. It is equipped with advanced audiovisual technology to allow us to see and hear – for the first time ever – what it is like to reach another world. It will be exciting! The live coverage of the NASA TV event will begin tomorrow, February 18, at 14:15 EST (19:15 UTC); landing will take place at approximately 3:55 pm EST (20:55 UTC).
Where to watch: NASA TV, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitch, Daily Motion and THETA.TV.
The 2021 monthly calendars are here. A few left. Order yours before you leave!
Perseverance’s innovative cameras and microphones will capture much of its entry, descent and landing process. This process, sometimes referred to by space engineers as seven minutes of terror, is considered by many to be the most critical and dangerous part of the mission.
According to NASA, engineers are expected to receive notification of key landing steps at the estimated times below. Due to the distance that signals must travel from Mars to Earth, these events actually take place on Mars 11 minutes, 22 seconds earlier than those mentioned below. Also, a variety of factors can affect the precise timing of these steps listed above, including properties of the Martian atmosphere that are difficult to predict until the spacecraft actually flies through it.
– Separation of the cruise stage: the part of the spacecraft that flew Perseverance – with NASA’s ingenious Mars helicopter attached to its belly – through space in the last 6 and a half months will separate from the entry capsule at about 3:38 pm EST (12:38 pm PST, 20:38 UTC).
– Atmospheric entry: The spacecraft is expected to reach the top of the Martian atmosphere traveling at a speed of approximately 19,500 km / h at 15:48 EST (12:48 PST, 20:48 UTC).
– Maximum heating: Friction in the atmosphere will heat the ship’s bottom to temperatures of up to about 2,370 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1,300 degrees Celsius) at 3:49 pm EST (12:49 pm PST, 20:49 UTC).
– Parachute deployment: the spacecraft will deploy its parachute at supersonic speed around 15:52 EST (12:52 pm PST, 20:52 UTC). The exact deployment time is based on the new Range Trigger technology, which improves the accuracy of the ship’s ability to reach a landing target.
– Separation of the heat shield: the protective bottom of the inlet capsule will come off approximately 20 seconds after the parachute is deployed. This allows the rover to use a radar to determine how far it is from the ground and use its ground-based navigation technology to find a safe landing place.
– Separation of the rear shell: the rear half of the inlet capsule that is attached to the parachute will be separated from the rover and the “jetpack” (known as the descent stage) at 15:54 EST (12:54 pm PST, 20 : 54 UTC). The jetpack will use retrorockets to slow down and fly to the landing site.
– Touchdown: The spacecraft descent stage, using the maneuver of the sky crane, will lower the rover to the surface on the nylon ties. The rover is expected to reach the surface of Mars at human walking speed (approximately 1.7 mph or 2.7 km / h) around 3:55 pm EST (12:55 pm PST, 20:55 UTC ).
The aeroshell containing NASA’s Perseverance rover is guided to the Martian surface as it descends through the atmosphere in this illustration. Hundreds of critical events must be executed perfectly and just in time for the rover to land safely on Mars. Image by NASA / JPL-Caltech.
The rover will reach the Martian atmosphere, traveling at almost 19,000 km / h, slipping into the sky, as its thermal shield helps slow it down. Then, at an altitude of about 1.5 km, the descent module will start its engines, while a new relative navigation system will begin to identify a safe landing point. In essence, it will scan and analyze the terrain below, then match it with the maps in its database and prepare for the touchdown.
A parachute with a diameter of 21 feet (21 m) will be deployed to slow the ship further, bringing the descent to a crawler, before the crane of the sky begins its task of lowering the rover to the ground. The sky crane is the same landing-landing system used by Curiosity and is a completely autonomous system designed to give rovers a soft and gentle landing (hopefully).
In terms of design, the rover is very similar to the Curiosity rover, currently in Gale Crater, but has a few different scientific tools. While Curiosity focuses on finding evidence of habitability from the past, which it did, Perseverance seeks direct evidence of life itself. This will be the first mission since the launch of Viking 1 and 2 in the late 1970s / early 1980s that did this.
The bright new rooms of Perseverance will capture a large part of the whole process. A chamber mounted on the back shell of the spacecraft is pointed upwards. This will record a picture of the unfolding of the parachutes as it slows down on landing. Then below it is a camera facing down on the descent scene, which will film its first tactile contact with the ground on Mars. This technology suite will give us the most detailed video and photo recordings about landing in a neighboring world so far. Lori Glaze, who heads the Planetary Sciences Division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told reporters:
We will be able to watch ourselves landing on another planet for the first time.
However, there will be no live stream of footage, as we are used to with the events of the International Space Station and rocket launches on Earth. The reason for this is due to a gap in the data relay from Mars to Earth, which is slower than even the old dial-up connections. But we may see Perseverance in the field using the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which can share with us at least low-resolution images shortly after landing. Moreover, we will have live streams of mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The footage from the Curiosity landing left us with some iconic images (enter Bobak Ferdowsi). Of course, coronavirus protocols will remain in place at mission control, but even a pandemic is unlikely to diminish the holiday. Perseverance Deputy Project Director Matt Wallace said:
I don’t think Covid will be able to stop us from jumping up and down and punching each other. You will see a lot of happy people no matter what, once we bring this to the surface safely.
Researchers in the main control of the NASA-JPL mission, celebrating the landing of curiosity in 2012. Image via NASA / Daily Mail.
To date, there have been only eight successful landings on Mars: Viking 1 and Viking 2 (both from 1976), Pathfinder (1997), Spirit and Opportunity (both in 2004), Phoenix (2008), Curiosity (2012) and InSight (2018).
The Soviet Union is the only other country to have successfully landed a spacecraft on Mars. That was in 1971 and 1973.
On the other hand, once there, missions on Mars can last for years, and robots on Earth have spent years around Mars. With the Perseverance mission, for the first time, NASA will try something new; will release a small helicopter into the thin Martian air. The helicopter is called ingenuity. He will try to research around the small planet, trying to target locations of interest for future missions to Mars.
NASA has chosen Jezero Crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover with good reason. Scientists believe the area was once flooded and housed an ancient delta of the river with water more than 3.5 billion years ago. River channels overflowed the crater wall and created a lake, transporting clay minerals from its surroundings. Microbial life could have lived in the crater during one or more of these wet periods and, if so, signs of their remains could be found in the sediments on the shore of the lake or on the shore. Scientists will study how the region formed and evolved, look for signs of past life, and collect samples of rock and soil from Mars that could preserve these signs. The landing site selection process involved mission team members and scientists from around the world, who carefully examined more than 60 candidate locations. But after a thorough five-year study of potential sites, each with its own unique features and attractions, Jezero has reached the top.
In preparation for the Perseverance landing, NASA provides landing resources, ways to participate, social opportunities, and more. Download posters, stickers, fact sheets, mission patches and more. Register for a virtual landing event, where you can connect online with other space enthusiasts and ask NASA experts the hottest questions. Get lessons and activities for students or even virtual passport stamps, all available on their website here.
NASA will use a “heavenly crane” to gently lower Perseverance to the surface of Mars. The concept of the artist through NASA.
Conclusion: Due to landing in Jezero Crater tomorrow, NASA’s Perseverance rover will carry scientific tools to collect soil samples and look for signs of ancient life. It will also use audiovisual technology to allow us to see and hear what it is like to reach another world for the first time. How to watch live coverage of the perseverance landing.
Read more from CNET: NASA Mars Perseverance rover: What to expect on the day of landing
Hot Wheels Perseverance lands in stores before the rover on Mars
