|Perseverance Pays

So, those that know me are aware that I am a big fan of the Space Programme. I think it wonderous that have been to the moon and photographed the planets in a solar system. I find it scintillating that the more we discover about these worlds the universe becomes even more fantastical, magical even. I am awestruck that expansive, innovative and imaginative thinking theorised some of the Universe’s wonderous objects long before we discovered their physical existence. If you stop and ponder that fact alone, it not only saturates the mind with the possibilities of our own existence but reflects the complexity of it as well. We still have yet to acknowledge and exploit the power of our brains and the minds they create. 

In these oppressive and dark times, I believe that looking up to the stars is not only necessary but is therapeutic for us as a species. With all this thinking, knowledge and wisdom to date there is a question that still haunts us or at least me – ‘are we alone in the universe?’

The closest planet to ours that may have harboured life is Mars. We have speculated this through academic discourse, in creative thinking and the idea of Martians have permeated our collective consciousness. What we each envisage a Martian to be though differs greatly. Within the scientific community it is a carbon based, unicellular organism or even a simple material that replicates. It is highly unlikely to be Marvin or Orwell’s monsters or even the ghosts of Bradbury’s chronicles. NASA’s (National Aeronautics and Space Administration ) 2020 mission to Mars; Perseverance  Rover is our best chance to find out and it landed on Mars last week.

The Mars 2020 mission is the latest in a programme (Mars Exploration Programme MEP) that began in 1994 and has four mission objectives:

• Geology: Study the rocks and landscape at its landing site to reveal the region’s history
• Astrobiology: Determine whether an area of interest was suitable for life, and look for signs of ancient life itself
• Sample Caching: Find and collect promising samples of Mars rock and soil that could be brought back to Earth in the future
• Prepare for Humans: Test technologies that would help sustain human presence on Mars someday

The Mars Exploration Programme Timeline.

The Perseverance rover carries 7 key instruments to support the mission achieving its objectives, these are :

Mastcam-Z

An advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability and the ability to zoom. The instrument can also help scientists assess the mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations.

Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)

A set of sensors to provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity and dust size and shape.

Mars Oxygen ISRU Experiment (MOXIE)

An exploration technology investigation to produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide.

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL)

An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer with high-resolution camera to determine the fine scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before.

Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX)

A ground-penetrating radar to provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC)

A spectrometer to provide fine-scale imaging and use an ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine fine-scale mineralogy and detect organic compounds. SHERLOC is the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload.

SuperCam

An instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy. The instrument can detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and regolith from a distance. This instrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (CNES/IRAP) France.

Perseverance also has an ingenious payload strapped to its underbelly that may allow the first powered flight in the red planet’s atmosphere, it the Mars Helicopter (christened ‘Ingenuity’).

The spacecraft was launched back in July (30th 4:50 a.m. PDT (7:50 a.m. EDT) in the midst of the pandemic. This was a feat itself. An Atlas V-541 rocket was used, being one the largest rockets available for interplanetary flight1. The same type of rocket was used for the InSight and Curiosity Missions to Mars. It departed Earth at a speed of about 24,600 mph (about 39,600 kph) and travelled 293 million miles (472 million kilometers), taking 203 days to arrive at Mars. On February the 18th the 1,026-kilogram robotic geologist and astrobiologist touched down and has already sent some photographs back and even the helicopter has checked in. It;’s now undergoling several weeks of testing before commencing its two year science investigation programme of the Mars’ Jezero Crater.

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  NASA's Mars 2020 rover will store rock and soil samples in sealed tubes on the planet's surface for future missions to retrieve.

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  The Perseverance rover carries seven instruments to conduct its science and exploration technology investigations (please see main text for details).

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  NASA's Mars exporation Programme launched in 1994.

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  This illustration depicts five major components of the Mars 2020 spacecraft. Top to bottom: cruise stage, backshell, descent stage, Perseverance rover and heat shield. The various components perform critical roles during the vehicle's cruise to Mars and its dramatic Entry, Descent, and Landing.

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  The Empire State Building is illuminated in red to celebrate this Thursday's scheduled landing on Mars of NASA's Perseverance rover, Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2021 in New York City. A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. Photo Credit: (NASA/Emma Howells)

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  The target landing area of NASA’s Perseverance rover is overlaid on this image of its landing site on Mars, Jezero Crater. The larger landing ellipses of several other Mars missions are shown for comparison.

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  NASA’s Perseverance rover deploys a supersonic parachute from its aeroshell as it slows down before landing, in this artist’s illustration. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land safely on Feb. 18, 2021. Entry, Descent, and Landing, or "EDL,” begins when the spacecraft reaches the top of the Martian atmosphere, travelling nearly 12,500 mph (20,000 kph). EDL ends about seven minutes after atmospheric entry, with Perseverance stationary on the Martian surface. The parachute, 70.5 feet (21.5 meters) in diameter, deploys about 240 seconds after entry into the Martian atmosphere, at an altitude of about 7 miles (11 kilometers) and a velocity of about 940 mph (1,512 kph). The parachute slows the vehicle to about 200 mph (320 kph).

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  This illustration shows NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover on the surface of the Red Planet. Perseverance will search for signs of ancient microbial life. It will also characterize the planet's climate and geology, collect samples for future return to Earth and pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.

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  This illustration shows the events that occur in the final minutes of the nearly seven-month journey that NASA’s Perseverance rover takes to Mars. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021.

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  Members of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission were jubilant on Feb. 18, 2021, after the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars. They are in Mission Control at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

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  A United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket carrying the Mars 2020 mission with the Perseverance rover lifts off from Space Launch Complex-41 at 7:50 a.m. EDT on July 30, 2020.

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  The arrival at Mars took 203 days.

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  With its heat shield facing the planet, NASA’s Perseverance rover begins its descent through the Martian atmosphere in this illustration. Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021.

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  This illustration shows NASA’s Perseverance rover casting off its spacecraft’s cruise stage, minutes before entering the Martian atmosphere. Hundreds of critical events in the rover’s Entry, Descent, and Landing sequence must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to touch down on Mars safely on Feb. 18, 2021.

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  This artist impression depicts the crater as it may have been.

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  Mars2020 Year-To-Launch Group Photo

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  In this artist's concept, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover rolls away. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. It will arrive on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021, attached to the belly of NASA's Perseverance rover. Perseverance will deploy Ingenuity onto the surface of Mars, and Ingenuity is expected to attempt its first flight test in spring 2021.

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  This image shows major components of NASA's Mars 2020 mission in the High Bay 1 clean room in JPL's Spacecraft Assembly Facility. JPL will build and manage operations of the Mars 2020 rover for the NASA Science Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.

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  The location of the 7 instruments on the rover. Please see the main text for details.

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  This high-resolution still image is part of a video taken by several cameras as NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021. A camera aboard the descent stage captured this shot.

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  This high-resolution image shows one of the six wheels aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, which landed on Feb. 18, 2021. The image was taken by one of Perseverance’s color Hazard Cameras (Hazcams).

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  This is the first high-resolution, color image to be sent back by the Hazard Cameras (Hazcams) on the underside of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover after its landing on Feb. 18, 2021.

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  NASA’s Perseverance rover fires up its descent stage engines as it nears the Martian surface in this illustration. This phase of its entry, descent and landing sequence, or EDL, is known as “powered descent.” Hundreds of critical events must execute perfectly and exactly on time for the rover to land safely on Feb. 18, 2021. The cruise stage separates about 10 minutes before entering into the atmosphere, leaving the aeroshell, which encloses the rover and descent stage, to make the trip to the surface. At about 6,900 feet (2,100 meters) above the surface, the rover separates from the parachute and backshell. At this point, the rover is joined to the descent stage, which functions as a sort of jetpack for the rover. The descent stage fires up its engines, flies to a reachable self-selected safe landing target, levels out, and slows to its final descent speed of about 1.7 mph (2.7 kph). It then initiates the “skycrane” maneuver: about 12 seconds before touchdown, roughly 66 feet (20 meters) above the surface, the descent stage lowers the rover on a set of cables about 21 feet (6.4 meters) long. The rover unstows its mobility system, locking its legs and wheels into landing position. EDL ends about seven minutes after atmospheric entry, with Perseverance stationary on the Martian surface.

The rover will investigate the rock and sediment of Jezero’s ancient lakebed and river delta to characterize the region’s geology and past climate. To get some of the samples that Perseverance collects NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) is planning  the Mars Sample Return campaign.

I realise that we are still in the grip of a pandemic and people are dying as a consequence but that is a key reason why we should continue to pursue exploration such as this. The science it generates may provide solutions to further the human race beyond the 21st century, to help tackle future pandemics and the sequelae of climate change. For me it is also inspiring and invigorating. I can’t wait to see the science.