Technician Persviers took the engineering version of the Mars rover to its new Mars Yard building, which is part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Did you know NASAIs ahead Mars. Is there almost only one brother on Earth to test the rover? Even better, this is the first time a replica of the Matian landscape has been toured.
As NASA’s Mars rover commits itself into space via the Red Planet, a one-wheeled twin vehicle is ready to orbit the Earth.
The full-standard engineering version of the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover – built with wheels, cameras and powerful computers to help operate it autonomously – has just been moved to its garage home at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Is. The Rover Model Dale passed its first driving test in a relatively warehouse-like assembly room. JPL September 1, 2020. Engineers expect to take it to Mars Yard next week, where an area of red dirt filled with rocks and other obstacles mimics the surface of the Red Planet.
In the garage opposite the Marsa Yard at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, there is a full-scale engineering model of NASA’s Persever Mars rover. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
“The test mobility team can’t wait to finally get our test rover out,” said Anais Zarifian, JPL’s mobility test bed engineer. “This is a test robot that comes close to summarizing the actual mission of the mission – with the wheels, eyes and brains on Mars – all working together – so this rover will do a particularly fun job. . “
Wait, why do we need twins for hard work?
Commitment will not go to Mars with a mechanic. To avoid as many unwanted problems as possible after Rover Land on February 18, 2021, the team will need an Earth-based Vehicle System Test Bed (VSTB) rover to learn how to send commands when hardware and software are weak. Will perform before. Mars This rover model will be especially useful for completing a full set of software tests so that the team can send patches on the way to Mars or after reaching the screen.
Engineers test Earth twins for the first time in NASA’s Presbyterian Mars rover in a warehouse-like assembly room at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
And just as the name of determination is an apt name – one that catches the hard work of getting a rover on its way to Mars amid an epidemic – its twin name is: optimism. While optimism is a summary of Twin’s working commitment to the mechanisms and devices sent to Mars, the name also approves of the mantra of the team that spent two years planning and assembling it.
Matt Stumbo, who led VSTB Rover in the test bed team, said: “That’s why we named it Test Rover Tim Pitism to remind us what needs to be done to fully test the system. Our job is to find problems, not just problems Hope The work will continue. As we work on issues with optimism, we gain confidence in our ability to work on Mars. ”
Almost compatible
The optimism is almost identical: it is the same size, has the same mobility system and peak driving speed (0.094 miles, or 0.15 km), and represents the same special “head”, called the remote sensing mast. Called. After the second phase of the building at the beginning of the new year, there will be a set dedicated to the collection of science equipment, cameras and computer “brains” and mass and soil samples.
But optimism resides in the JPL, so there are some earthly differences. For one thing, while the Commitment is powered by a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator (a type of atomic battery that has reliably operated space missions since the 1960s), optimism shows a navel that can be plugged in for power. The cord also provides an Ethernet connection, allowing the mission team to send and receive commands to ize optimize engineering data, without setting the radio to use radio processors for communication. And while the commitment to keep warm in the cold climate of Mars comes with a heating system, optimism relies on a cooling system to work in warmer Southern California.
Technician Persviers took the engineering version of the Mars rover to its new Mars Yard building, which is part of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Welcome to the family
Optimism JPL is not the only VSTB rover. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover, which has been searching for the red planet since landing in 2012, has a Magii (Mars automated giant gizmo for integrated engineering). Maggie C. Roccitti is helping the team with particularly challenging areas and drilling rock crossing strategies.
Optimism and Maggie will stay together at the Mars Yard, providing JPL engineers with a two-car garage for the first time.
“The missions that are in operation need proper replicas of their systems for testing,” Stumbo said. “Uruguay learned a lesson from Mission Maggie that was impossible for anyone else to learn. Now that we have T-Patism, Commitment Mission is well prepared to learn what they need to succeed on Mars. ”
The rover’s astrobiology mission will look for signs of ancient microbial life. It will also showcase the planet’s climate and geology, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first planetary eclipse to collect and capture marathon rocks and regular (broken rocks and dust). Subsequent missions, currently being considered by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency, will send a spacecraft to Mars on Tuesday to collect these cash samples from Earth and analyze them in depth on Earth.
The Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program that includes a mission to the moon as a way to prepare for the red planet’s human exploration. Blaming astronauts returning to the moon by 2024, NASA will establish a continuous presence on and around the moon by 2028 through NASA’s Artemis lunar research plans.
Design and management of JPL, presence and operation of Curiosity Rovers powered by Caltech by NASA in Pasadena, California.
