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Just over a week ago (February 18th, 2021), from NASA Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater on the surface of Mars. In what was truly a media circus, people from all over the world tuned in to watch live coverage of the rover landing. When Perseverance landed, it wasn’t just NASA mission controllers who stood up triumphantly to cheer and applaud.
In the days that followed, the world was feted with all manner of media depicting the surface of Mars and its descent. The most recent comes from Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which is part of ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Program. From its vantage point, high above the Martian skies, the TGO spotted Perseverance in Jezero crater and acquired images showing the rover and other elements of his lander.
Since 2016, the TGO has orbited Mars and collected vital data on the composition of its atmosphere. Specifically, TGO has been looking for traces of atmospheric methane and other gases that could 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 or not it still exists).
In addition, the orbiter has performed other important science operations, such as transmitting data from robotic missions on the surface and acquiring images from space. February 23rd, the TGO took advantage of its orbit to take pictures with its Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) that showed the Perseverance rover, as well as its parachute, heat shield and elements of the descent stage, inside the Jezero crater.
In the first image (top), the elements are distinguished as a series of dark and bright pixels, which are indicated in the second image (bottom). As you can see, the descent stage and the heat shield are dark spots spaced around two smaller craters, while the parachute and shell are visibly bright spots in close proximity to each other. the Perseverance The rover, near the lower center, is a relatively weak spot next to a small ridge emerging from a crater.
This is where Perseverance It will spend the next two years (which will likely be extended) looking for signs of past microbial life. Based on its features, which include a preserved river delta and clay-rich sedimentary deposits, Jezero Crater is known to have housed a body of stagnant water billions of years ago. For this reason, it was selected as the landing site for the mission, as it is believed to be a good place to find evidence of past lives.
Perseverance He will also carry out an ambitious and unprecedented operation, where he will collect samples of Martian rocks and soil and keep them in a hideout. These will be returned to Earth by a separate ESA-NASA Mars Sample Return mission consisting of a lander, a rover (to retrieve the samples) and a small launcher (to launch them into orbit). Once there, an orbiter will pick them up and take them home for analysis.
The ExoMars TGO also provided a significant amount of assistance for the Perseverance rover during its landing, such as data relay services. Videos of the landing, as well as images and sound recordings, were captured by instruments aboard the rover’s entry, descent and landing (EDL) vehicle. These were sent back to Earth with the help of the TGO, as well as NASA. Mars reconnaissance orbiter (MRO).
The orbiter will continue to provide data relay support between Earth and Mars for future missions to the surface, particularly the upcoming ExoMars mission. Known as ExoMars 2022, this mission will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 20th, 2022, and will arrive on the Red Planet before June 10th, 2023. It will consist of the Russian surface platform Kazachok and the Rosalind Franklin rover.
Meanwhile, the Trace Gas Orbiter will continue to orbit Mars and carry out its own science operations, focusing on analyzing the atmosphere of Mars and searching for gases that point the way to past (or present) life. Recently, the orbiter detected traces of hydrogen chloride gas coming out of the planet’s atmosphere, indicating that this salt exists on the surface that put it into orbit.
On Earth, this process has been observed with sodium chloride salts, where salty water evaporates from our oceans and is pushed into the upper atmosphere by strong winds. The TGO has also monitored the water vapor that leaves the Martian atmosphere and escapes into space. Together, these findings have provided new clues as to where Mars’s abundant surface water escaped billions of years ago.
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