Tag Archives: Perseverance

Missions to Mars

Mars, the planet most likely to stir the blood of an SF fan!

And it’s a real busy place. Three nations took advantage of the close orbit of Mars in 2020 to send missions to the Red Planet. NASA’s mission to look for signs of life is already underway. https://www.nasa.gov

The press is covering the Perseverance mission, almost to the exclusion of the other two which are equally interesting.

The Chinese Satellite is in parking orbit today. It has a lovely name taken from the title of an ancient poem: Tianwen, which means Quest for Heavenly Truth. It will also be looking for water and signs of life.  https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/china-s-mars-craft-enters-parking-orbit-before-landing-rover-1.5321743

The United Arab Emirates has a satellite in orbit since the ninth of February. It’s called Hope, and will be focussed on learning more about the atmosphere, and possibly understanding how the climate changed.

It’s amazing that all three launched in 2020 have succeeded, so far. There have been more failures than successes over the years.

Adding to the drama, there are probably 8 derelict satellites in orbit also, and their exact positions are not known.

It landed-in one piece! Whew!

7 minutes of terror–like Schrodinger’s cat, no one knew if the lander was dead or alive.  What makes Perseverence of particular interest to us is that it’s primary job is to look for signs of life. It will also conduct experiments to make oxygen from the carbon dioxide. This will be critical for a human landing on the planet.

 https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/landing/watch-online/

Mars is a really busy place right now. There are 18 artificial satellites in orbit, 8 of them active.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mars_orbiters

Perseverance–Launching for Mars

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

Mission: To  seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.

Quick Facts

  • Mission Name: Mars 2020
  • Rover Name: Perseverance
  • Main Job: The Perseverance rover will seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.
  • Launch Window: July 20 – Aug. 11, 2020
  • Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
  • Landing: Feb. 18, 2021
  • Landing Site: Jezero Crater, Mars
  • Mission Duration: At least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days)
  • Tech Demo: The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration, hitching a ride on the Perseverance rover.
  • Fact Sheet
  • Launch Press Kit

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