Nasa’s Perseverance Rover should come soon on mars: what can you expect? NASA will use a “sky crane” to gently lower stamina to the surface of Mars.
There are few stakes as tense, exciting, and as high as landing a vehicle on another planet when it comes to space events. This Thursday, February 18, NASA’s Perseverance rover will attempt to land on Mars, ushering in a new era in red planet exploration.
While NASA has a lot of experience delivering machines to Mars (we see you here, curiosity and overview) doesn’t make it easier this time around. “Landing on Mars is difficult,” NASA said. “Only about 40% of the missions ever sent to Mars by a space agency have been successful.”
How and Where to Watch
NASA will broadcast the landing live. The NASA television program broadcast by Mission Control begins on Thursday, February 18 at 11:15 am. The landing in Jezero crater on Mars is scheduled for around 12:30 pm. It won’t be like a rocket launch where we can see every detail. We will receive comments and updates from NASA, views from mission control, and hopefully pictures shortly after landing. It will be a must-see for space fans.
Perseverance resonatesWe’ve been to Mars before. So why all the hype? The red planet is our neighbour in the solar system. It’s rocky like the Earth. It has a long history of water. We can imagine maybe one day living there.
“Humans’ interest in this planet is just extraordinary,” Alice Gorman – a space archaeologist and associate professor at Flinders University in Australia told CNET. Gorman highlighted humanity’s quest beyond Earth and how Mars is a candidate for microbe life in its ancient past.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover is ready to explore the wilderness of Mars
There is also something special about a rover, a wheeled mechanical creature with “head” and “eyes”. “People feel like rovers because they are active and moving,” Gorman said, likening it to a feeling of almost parental attachment. The pouring of emotions about the disappearance of NASA’s Opportunity Rover proves how connected people can access a Martian explorer. Endurance is quickly becoming our new Mars favourite.
Seven Minutes of Terror
Arrivals to Mars are always heartbreaking. NASA calls the EDL process “Entry, Descent, and Landing”. “When landing, the rover with the heat shield first plunges into the thin Martian atmosphere at a speed of over 20,000 km / h.”, NASA said in a country clarifier. There’s a reason NASA describes the landing process as “seven minutes of terror.”
Small engines fire to keep the rover on course during the potentially bumpy ride through the atmosphere. The rover’s heat shield will help slow it down. At an altitude of about 11 kilometres, a supersonic parachute will deploy, and endurance will soon part with its heat shield.
NASA gave a briefing on January 27 with a detailed overview of the entire EDL sequence, including the “sky crane” manoeuvre, which uses a harness to lower the rover from its final distance to the surface.
If all goes well, stamina will eventually rise to the surface of Mars. “The hardest part is landingsmoothly, not crashing, and then deploying the moving parts,” Gorman said. Perseverance isn’t the only one who travels. He also carries a helicopter named Ingenuity in his stomach. Ingenuity is unleashed later in the mission.