In this video, we are going to talk about Mars and the hopeful mission that NASA will be sending the newest rover to the planet by Mid August, so let’s talk about Perseverance.
Perseverance, the next Mars Rover to launch and land on mars is a big mission for NASA. The main goal, to seek and search for life, gather soil samples and possibly return them to Earth. Because of some delays the launch is not expected until the earliest July 30th and the launch window and lasts until August 11th.
So why is there a launch window? This is so the rover can be launched using minimal amounts of fuel to rendezvous with Mars. When NASA or any other private company launches a rocket you want to do it with the least amount of fuel required, if you have more fuel, you have more weight and you need more fuel to launch that extra weight.
Launch windows are also designed to minimize the travel time to get to the destination. This mission is scheduled to land on Feb. 18, 2021 in the Jezero Crater on Mars.
The Jezero Crater is believed to be part of an ancient body of water and delta that could have been teeming with life and microbes. Perseverance will take soil samples of this area, seal them and hopefully have them sent back to Earth on a future mission to Mars.
This rover, like Curiosity will have a similar Entry, Descent and Landing on Mars. This time while slowing down by parachute, the rover will scan the surface, and if needed make navigational changes so it can land in the ideal spot for research. The sky crane will again be used to place the rover on the surface.
Also tagging along on this rover will be Ingenuity, a 4 pound, or on mars, 1.5 pound spacecraft that will take flight with its 4 foot drone like wings. This will be a tech demo, and if successful will fly multiple times within a 30 day time span. This test will give us an understanding of what the lower atmosphere really is like. It will also test our engineering at building a flying spacecraft where temperatures are close to -130 below zero.
Once again, this mission as of now is expected to launch in early August. As the launch day gets closer, I’ll share how we can watch it and more about the mission. In the meantime, keep your eye on the sky!