WASHINGTON– NASA’s Mars 2020 spacecraft is running “perfectly” in advance of itsFeb 18 touchdown on Mars that will certainly be a vital turning point for the company’s future Mars expedition strategies.
The spacecraft is arranged to land the wanderer Perseverance externally of Jezero Crater on Mars at regarding 3:55 p.m.Eastern Feb 18. That time is when the signals from the spacecraft show up on Earth based upon a light traveling time of 11 mins and also 22 secs from Mars.
At aFeb 16 instruction at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, job authorities claimed the spacecraft got on program and also running well in advance of its vital access, descent and also touchdown (EDL) stage mins prior to goal.
“Perseverance is operating perfectly right now, and all systems are go for landing,” Jennifer Trosper, replacement job supervisor for the objective, claimed at the instruction. Controllers sent out onFeb 12 the “DO EDL” command to the spacecraft, activating a collection of tasks on the spacecraft to get ready for the touchdown.
While there is still the capacity to change the spacecraft’s trajectory if required, Trosper claimed that Mars 2020 gets on track to land in Jezero Crater as prepared. “The targeting is on the bull’s-eye, and we are headed exactly where we want to be for Mars,” she claimed.
Mars 2020 will certainly utilize a touchdown system comparable to that made use of by Curiosity, the wanderer that arrived at Mars in 2012. That system does consist of some enhancements, especially an innovation called “terrain relative navigation” where the coming down spacecraft takes photos of the surface area listed below and also contrasts it to an onboard map, utilizing that details to assist it to a risk-free touchdown area.
Telemetry from Mars 2020 will certainly be transferred back to Earth throughout EDL with a “pseudo bent pipe” relay offered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. That will certainly offer one of the most information with touchdown, Trosper claimed, consisting of the opportunity of photos from danger electronic cameras on the front and also back of the wanderer right away after touchdown. The spacecraft will certainly additionally send a collection of tones straight to Earth in X-band throughout descent, offering details on crucial objective occasions.
Another orbiter, Mars Odyssey, will certainly overlook Jezero Crater regarding 3 and also a fifty percent hrs after touchdown that will certainly offer details on the condition of the wanderer. “Getting that pass would give us a lot of information about the state of the vehicle,” she claimed. The European Space Agency’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter will fly over the touchdown website a couple of hrs after Odyssey, additionally with the capacity to relay information from Perseverance.
“If all goes well, we could potentially see some images by the end of the day,” she claimed. “If not, it’s possible that something happened that maybe caused the vehicle to go into a safing mode after landing.” In that occasion, it might take a number of days to remedy the problem and also bring back typical procedures.
Perseverance itself is ostensibly comparable to Curiosity, yet with a brand-new collection of tools and also various other upgrades, such as wheels that are enhanced after those on Curiosity were harmed by sharp rocks on the Martian surface area. “Percy’s got a new set of kicks and she is ready for trouble on this Martian surface,” claimed Adam Steltzner, primary designer for Perseverance.
Scientists will certainly utilize the tools on Perseverance to research the earth’s previous habitability, consisting of any kind of proof of old microbial life there. A significant element of the objective, however, is to accumulate rock examples for later go back to Earth as component of the general Mars Sample Return program.
Mars Sample Return, that includes 2 objectives releasing no earlier than 2026 together with ESA to accumulate the examples cached by Perseverance and also return them to Earth, makes up the almost all of NASA’s Mars expedition tasks in the coming years, past procedure of existing objectives. A stopped working touchdown by Perseverance would certainly overthrow that method.
“It’s not adding stress,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA link manager for scientific research, claimed of the effects of the Mars 2020 touchdown onMars Sample Return “We’re entirely focused on one thing right now, which is the successful landing.”
Trosper claimed Mars 2020 is the 5th Mars touchdown she’s been entailed with. “The team has been doing a great job. The spacecraft is solid,” she claimed. “There are no guarantees, but I’m feeling great.”
In 2012, NASA notoriously called the EDL stage of the Curiosity objective the “seven minutes of terror,” describing the moment from when the spacecraft comes across the Martian ambience to when it lands, and also all the dangers throughout that time that might ruin the spacecraft. The company is once more utilizing the “seven minutes of terror” stage for the Perseverance touchdown, despite the fact that some entailed with the objective think “terror” is maybe a little bit overwrought.
“Probably ‘terror’ is not the right word,” claimed Rob Manning, primary designer at JPL and also a professional of past Mars touchdowns, throughout a session of the Planetfest ’21 meeting held byThe Planetary Society Feb 14. “It’s probably more like anxiety: deep, deep, deep anxiety.”
“When you see us cheer” after an effective touchdown, he included, “it’s not happiness. It’s relief, deep relief.”
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