A little over a week ago (February 18de, 2021), NASA’s Persistence rover ends up in the Jezero crater on the surface of Mars. In truly a media circus, people from all over the world were set up to watch the live coverage of the runway. When Persistence touched, it was not just the mission controllers at NASA who triumphantly jumped to their feet to cheer and applaud.
In the ensuing days, the world was treated to all sorts of media that showed the surface of Mars and its descent. The most recent comes from the Track gas bypass (TGO), which is part of the ESA Roscosmos ExoMars program. From his vantage point, high above the skies of Mars, the TGO spotted him Persistence found in the Jezero crater and acquired images showing the rover and other elements of his landing vehicle.
Since 2016, the TGO has been orbiting Mars and gathering important information about the composition of its atmosphere. TGO specifically searched for traces of atmospheric methane and other gases that may be the result of geological or biological activity. These efforts are part of a larger effort to determine whether life existed on Mars billions of years ago (and whether it still exists).
In addition, the orbit performed other important scientific operations, such as transmitting data from robotic missions to the surface and obtaining images of space. On February 23rd, the TGO took advantage of its path to take photographs with its Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) using the Persistence in the Jezero crater, as well as its parachute, heat shield and stage elements.
In the first picture (above) the elements are noticeable as a series of dark and bright pixels, which are indicated in the second picture (below). As you can see, the downhill path and the heat are dark spots spaced between two smaller craters, while the parachute and the rear shell are visibly bright spots close together. The Persistence Rover, near the lower center, is a relatively dull spot through a small ridge leading out of one crater.
This is what Persistence will spend the next two years (which is likely to be extended) looking for signs of earlier microbial life. Due to its features, which contain a preserved river delta and clayey deposits, it is known that the Jezero crater offered a standing water body billions of years ago. For this reason, it was chosen as the landing place for the mission, as it is believed to be a good place to find evidence of past life.
Persistence will also carry out an ambitious and unprecedented operation, where it will collect samples of Mars rocks and soil and put them in a cupboard. This will be returned to Earth by a separate ESA-NASA Mars Sample Return mission that will consist of a lander, a rover (to pick up the monsters) and a small launcher (to get it in orbit to run). Once there, an orbit will pick them up and bring them home for analysis.
The ExoMars TGO also provided a significant amount of assistance to the Persistence rover during its landing, such as data delivery services. Videos of the landing, as well as footage and audio recordings, were captured by instruments on board the vehicle’s Entry, Descent and Landing (EDL) vehicle. This was sent back to Earth with the help of the TGO and NASA Mars Exploration Orbiter (MRO).
The orbit will continue to provide data delivery support between Earth and Mars for future missions to the surface, especially the next ExoMars mission. Known as ExoMars 2022, this mission will be launched on September 20 from the Baikonur Cosmodromede, 2022, and arrives by June 10 at the Red Planetde, 2023. It will consist of the Russian Kazachok surface platform and the Rosalind Franklin rover.
Meanwhile, the Trace Gas Orbiter will continue to orbit Mars and conduct its own scientific operations, focusing on the analysis of Mars’ atmosphere and the search for gases that point the way to past (or present) life. Recently, the orbit detected traces of hydrogen chloride gas leaving the planet’s atmosphere, suggesting that this salt existed on the surface that caused it to orbit.
On Earth, this process has been observed with sodium chloride salts, where salt water evaporates from our oceans and is pushed into the upper atmosphere by strong winds. The TGO also monitored water vapor leaving the Martian atmosphere and escaping into space. Together, these findings provide new clues as to where the abundant surface water from which billions of years ago escaped.
Further reading: ESA