- NASA is expected to begin an unprecedented mission to Mars on Thursday with the unveiling of the next-generation Perseverance Rover, a six-wheel robot charged with launching a mini aircraft, checking technology for potential human missions and looking for signs of past Martian existence.
Perseverance would research the astrobiologically important ancient climate of Mars and investigate its surface geological processes and background, including the estimation of its historical habitability, the possibility for past existence on Mars, and the possibilities for biosignature survival inside usable geological resources.
The mission is scheduled to depart off Cape Canaveral in Florida at 7:50 a.m. ET (1150 GMT) and planned as the ninth trip to the Martian surface of the U.S. Space Agency.
Last month, simultaneously, the United Arab Emirates and China released Mars samples showing their own technical capabilities and determination.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Reuters during an interview “This is unlike any robot that we’ve sent to Mars before because it has the purpose of astrobiology”.
“We are trying to find evidence of ancient life on another world,” he added.
The Perseverance car-size rover is scheduled to land in Mars next February. This is because of land at the base of an 820-foot-deep (250-meter) crater named Jezero, a 3.5 billion-year – old ancient lake that scientists claim may contain evidence of future past microbial Martian existence.
Perseverance is an unmanned four-pound (1.8 kg) aircraft, named Ingenuity, which was first evaluated on Mars owing to controlled flight.
Although NASA’s first Mars rover Sojourner landed in 1997, two others-Spirit and Chance-have been sent by the organization that exposed the geography of massive Martian plains and find proof of past water deposits, among other findings. NASA has already sent three active landers-Voyager, Phoenix, InSight.
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine mentioned he would picture a day where NASA is placing a robot on Mars that will be able to fly a dozen separate helicopters to explore.
“We know that we’re going to make discoveries with the Mars Perseverance rover that are going to make us ask a whole lot more questions, just like every previous discovery,” Jim Bridenstine stated Reuters.
Perseverance would perform an experiment to turn carbon-rich Martian atmospheric materials into propellants for potential rockets launched off the surface of the earth, or to generate breathable oxygen for potential astronauts.
Ingenuity can check the technologies to scout fascinating Mars research goals, and help prepare the best Perseverance drive path. The aircraft will be launched from the rover’s platform, which is planned to operate up to five times early in the project during its 30-day test campaign.
Bridenstine told “There’s a lot of things that we need to be able to develop and discover,” further he added,”so that when we get to Mars we can actually survive for long periods of time.”
