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NASA’s “Perseverance” successfully landed on Mars and sent the first photo
There are new human probes on Mars. On Thursday (February 18), NASA successfully landed its Perseverance Mars rover in the Jezero crater near the Martian equator.
Project deputy director Matt Wallace said: “The other good news is that I think the spacecraft is in good condition.”
When the landing was confirmed to be successful, engineers at NASA’s Mission Control Center in California were overjoyed.
The probe will take at least two years to collect local rocks and search for evidence of past life. Jezero is believed to have had a huge lake billions of years ago. Where there is water, there can be life.
Image source,POT
In this photo, you can see the shadow of the detector’s robotic arm.
At 20:55 GMT, the controller received a signal that Perseverance had landed and reached the surface of Mars safely. In the past, they could hug and high-five, but strict new crown measurements keep them separated by panes of glass, and all they can do is touch their fists.
But the excitement is still evident. When the two images arrived, the applause continued. The photograph was taken by a low resolution engineering camera. There is dust on the translucent lens cover, but you can see the flat surface before and after the detector.
Post-landing analysis showed that the probe landed about 2 kilometers southeast of the Jezero Delta, the area where Perseverance planned to investigate.
“We are in a good flat position and the probe only tilted 1.2 degrees,” said Allen Chen, who led the landing team. “We successfully found the docking position and roam safely on the ground. Proud of the team.”
Steve Jurczyk, acting director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, praised the landing, saying: “What a great team, they have overcome all the difficulties and challenges of landing on Mars, and the challenge of the new corona epidemic. It is an amazing achievement. “
Image source,NASA / JPL-Caltech
“Perseverance” Mars Rover-Rover
“Perseverance” is the second one-metric-ton Mars rover launched by NASA. The first probe, Curiosity, landed in another crater in 2012.
The controller will debug the new detector in the next few days to check if any of its systems are damaged during shocks. Most importantly, “Perseverance” will take a lot of photos over the next week. Engineers and scientists hope to assess the nearby terrain.
A recent goal is to conduct a helicopter test. “Perseverance” carries a mini helicopter that will try to make its first powered flight on Mars; You can describe it as the “Wright Brothers Moment” on Mars.
Image source,POT
Above: The probe landed about 2 kilometers from the Jezero target delta. Bottom: The probe’s onboard computer successfully landed on the flattest terrain (blue), avoiding the most dangerous terrain (red).
After this, the probe will travel to the huge delta area detected by the satellite. Scientists hope that signs of past life can be found in the structural material of the Jezero delta.
Perseverance will take a sample at the bottom of the delta and then move towards the rim of the crater. The carbonate rock detected by the satellite is on the rim of this crater. On land, carbonate rocks are particularly good at capturing signs of biological activity.
“Perseverance” has a complete set of equipment that can inspect these structures in detail and even observe them under a microscope.
Why is Jezero crater so interesting?
Jezero, 45 kilometers wide, is named after a city in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In some Slavic languages, “jezero” means “lake”, which explains its appeal.
Jezero showed multiple types of rocks, including clay and carbonate rocks, that can preserve certain organic molecules and are an indication that life once existed. Particularly attractive are the deposits in the bathtub on the shores of the ancient lakes of Mars. In these places, perseverance can find something similar to what is called a stromatolite on earth.
“In some lakes, the microbiome and carbonate interact to form these large structures, these large layered mounds,” explains Briony Horgan, member of the scientific team, Ph.D. from Purdue University.
She told the BBC: “If we see a similar structure on Jezero, we will go straight to it, because that could be something extremely difficult to find in Martian astrobiology.”
Image source,POT
The second photo sent from Jezero crater
The most interesting rocks discovered by Perseverance will be packed into small tubes and left on the surface of Mars. NASA and the European Space Agency have developed a multi-million dollar plan to bring them back by the end of this century.
This will be a complex operation that will involve a second probe, a Martian rocket, and a huge satellite that will bring Jezero specimens back to Earth. But bringing in samples is the next step in exploring Mars, both logical and necessary.
Even if Perseverance finds something that looks like a biomarker, the evidence will almost certainly be controversial, as will the claim that there are traces of ancient life on earth.
Therefore, bringing the rock in for a deeper and more complex analysis may be the only way to resolve the controversy about the past life of Mars.
