What to expect when the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover arrives at the Red Planet on February 18, 2021.
With about 2.4 million miles (3.9 million kilometers) left to travel in space, NASA’s Mars 2020 mission is days away from trying to land the agency’s fifth rover on the Red Planet. Engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, where the mission is being conducted, have confirmed that the spacecraft is healthy and is on target in Jezero Crater on February 18 at 15:55 EST (12:55 PST) to touch. , 2021.
“Perseverance is NASA’s most ambitious Mars rover mission, scientifically focused on finding out if there was ever life on Mars,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, co-administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington. “To answer this question, the landing team will have their hands full to bring us to Jezero Crater – the most challenging Mars terrain ever designed for a landing.”
Jezero is a basin where scientists believe an ancient river flowed into a lake and deposited sediments in a fan shape, a delta. Scientists believe that the environment here would probably preserve signs of any life that took hold billions of years ago – but Jezero also has steep cliffs, sand dunes and rocks. Landing on Mars is difficult – only about 50% of all previous landing attempts are successful – and these geological features make it even more so. The Perseverance team builds on lessons learned from previous touches and uses new technologies that enable the spacecraft to direct its landing site more accurately and avoid dangers autonomously.
“The Perseverance team is putting the finishing touches on the complex choreography needed to land in the Jezero crater,” said Jennifer Trosper, deputy project manager of the mission at JPL. “No Mars landing is guaranteed, but we are preparing for a decade to put these wheels’ wheels on the surface of Mars and get to work.”
You can watch the drama of Perseverance’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) – the most risky part of the Rover’s mission, which some engineers call the ‘seven minutes of terror’ – live on NASA TV. Comments begin at 2:15 p.m. EST (11:15 a.m. PST) on February 18th. Engineers are expected to take note of the most important landmarks for landing at the estimated times below. (Because of the distance that the signals from Mars have to travel to Earth, these events actually take place on Mars 11 minutes, 22 seconds earlier than what is noted here.)
– Separation of the cruise stage: The part of the spacecraft that has flown through – with NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter at its belly – through space for the past six and a half months, will separate from the entrance capsule at about 15:38 EST (12:38 p.m. PST) .
– Atmospheric entry: The spacecraft is expected to hit the top of the Martian atmosphere at about 19,100 km / h (19,500 km / h) at 15:48 EST (12:48 hours PST).
– Peak heating: Friction of the atmosphere will heat the bottom of the spacecraft to temperatures of about 2370 degrees Fahrenheit (about 1300 degrees Celsius) at 15:49 EST (12:49 PST).
– Parachute deployment: The spacecraft will use its parachute at supersonic speeds around 15:52 EST (12:52 PST). The exact deployment time is based on the new Range Trigger technology, which improves the accuracy of the spacecraft’s ability to reach a landing target.
– Heat shield separation: The protective bottom of the entrance capsule will be deployed approximately 20 seconds after the parachute. This allows the rover to use a radar to determine how far it is from the ground, and uses its Terrain-Relative Navigation technology to find a safe landing site.
– Back shell separation: The rear half of the entrance capsule attached to the parachute will separate from the rover and its “jetpack” (known as the descent stage) at 15:54 EST (12:54 pm. PST). The jetpack will use retro rockets to slow down and fly to the landing site.
– Touch: The turning stage of the spacecraft, using the crane maneuver, will lower the rover onto nylon straps to the surface. The rover is expected to touch the surface of Mars at human walking speeds (approximately 1.7 km per hour, or 2.7 km / h) around 15:55 EST (12:55 hours PST).
A variety of factors can affect the exact timing of the milestones above, including the properties of the Martian atmosphere that are difficult to predict until the spacecraft actually flies through.
Mission controllers may also not be able to confirm these milestones at the times above due to the complexity of the spatial communication. The flow of detailed engineering data (called telemetry) in near real time relies on a new kind of delivery capability added to NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) over the past year. Engineers expect additional data to return directly to Earth through NASA’s Deep Space Network and two other Earth-based antennas until shortly before contact.
It is important to note that the rover can land safely on Mars without communication with Earth: perseverance has pre-programmed landing instructions and significant autonomy. Additional communication evidence is planned in the hours and days after the landing event.
Once on the surface, one of Perseverance’s first activities will be to take photos of his new home and carry them back to Earth. In the following days, engineers will also check the health of the rover and deploy the remote sensing mast (also known as its “head”) so that it can take more photos. The Perseverance team will then take more than a month to thoroughly inspect the rover and download new flight software to prepare for the search for ancient life on Mars. During the same period, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter team will ensure that their small but powerful robot is prepared for the first attempt at a controlled, powered aerodynamic flight on another planet.
“The Ingenuity team will be on the edge of our seats with the Perseverance team on landing day,” said MiPLi Miung, JPL’s Ingenuity project manager. “We can not wait until the rover and the helicopter are safely on the surface of Mars and ready for action.”
More about the perseverance mission
An important goal of Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the geology and climate of the planet, pave the way for the exploration of the Red Planet by humans, and will be the first mission to capture and collect Mars rocks and sediment for later return to Earth.
Subsequent NASA missions, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return to Earth for in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger NASA initiative that includes missions to the moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon through NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration plans.
JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, is leading the Mars 2020 mission and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter technology demonstration for NASA.
The press set for endurance landing can be found at:
go.nasa.gov/perseverance-landing-press-kit
A press kit for ingenuity can be found at:
go.nasa.gov/ingenuity-press-kit