NASA successfully fulfilled the mission to delivery to the Red Planet of the Perseverance Perseverance "perseverance", and the Ingenuity Autonomous Electric Helicopter in its equipment.
Overcoming during a 203-day trip 472 million kilometers, the scientific apparatus of earthlings dropped to Mars in the area of Crater Jestero (Jezero). Crater Jestero Width of about 45 km is located on the western outskirts of the Isidis Region. Planition, a giant shock crater north of the Martian equator. Scientists have determined that 3.5 billion years ago, Crater had his own river delta and was filled with water.
The duet of the Marshode and the helicopter must complete several research missions. In terms of the Perseverance Mission, the rocks and deposits of the presumably ancient lake will be explored, which was in the Crater Jestero and the River delta, in order to characterize the geology of the region and the last climate, the fundamental part of his mission is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. Soil will also be collected for subsequent shipment to Earth, with future missions.
The rover is equipped with a nuclear power plant, in the form of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator. On its board there are 7 scientific devices that will perform the following functions: temperature measurement, speed and direction of wind, pressure, relative humidity, size and dust form; cameras with the possibility of panoramic and stereoscopic image with the possibility of scaling; X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, which will also contain a high-resolution imaging formator to determine the small-scale elemental composition of the Mars surface materials; radar station providing a centimeter resolution of the geological structure of the subsoil; spectrometer that provides images in a small scale and using ultraviolet (UV) laser to determine small-scale mineralogy and detecting organic compounds; Demonstration of MARS Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (Moxie), which should try to produce oxygen from Martian air, which consists of 96% CO2, and only 0.13% oxygen.
Lori Glaz, director of the NASA Planetology Department, "perseverance" perseverance "is the most perfect robot geologist from ever created to verify and find evidence that once there was at least a microbial life on Mars - this is a huge burden of evidence" .
Inventive wings Marsa
As part of Perseverance equipment, there is a tiny autonomous electric helicopter Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which will try to make the first controlled flight on another planet. Its case size with a box for napkins is suspended under a pair of 1.2-meter rotors with carbon fiber blades. It weighs only 1.8 kg, but the importance of his mission is enormous. His task, rising in the sky of Mars to help perseverance look for the most interesting places to explore. It works from solar energy produced by solar batteries located on its board. It is also equipped with cameras to obtain images from a bird's eye view with a resolution, ten times higher than the resolution obtained from orbital vehicles. Mars air studies will provide more data to map the surface of the planet and planning future astronaut travel routes.
Ingenuity "Inventiveness" flights, based on its size and energy supply, will last no more than 90 seconds each. And even, based on this figure, you can imagine how complex and important tool. It is simply impossible to manage from the Earth because of the radio signal delay. Therefore, Ingenuity will fly offline, passing information on Perseverance.
The fate of the pioneers is sometimes sad, but they are tracing the road after going. As the creators of the first Martian helicopter say, if you're lucky, the helicopter will make a couple of pictures in flight, but no more. For a helicopter, three main flights are scheduled. The importance and value of the mission is to show that the flight on Mars is possible, and collect data that will allow the next generation of Martian coalcasting devices, which will be able to carry out more ambitious and exciting cases. You will accurately surprise that the main processor of the Ingenuity helicopter is Snapdragon 801, which is made by Qualcomm.
In essence, this is a Cell Phone Class processor. But its size and power perfectly come to create this car. It is also equipped with a laser altimeter (from sparkfun) and a down-down VGA camera to track monocular functions, there is an inclinometer that is used to determine the tilt relative to the surface right during the takeoff, there is a 13-megapixel color camera level of a mobile phone that is not used for navigation, But with her attempts to make some good color pictures. The software of the device is based on the Linux operating system.
As declare in NASA, the Mars 2020 mission is part of a larger program, which includes mission to the moon as a way of preparation for the study of the Red Planet by a person. The task of NASA includes the return of astronauts to the moon by 2024, and by 2028 NASA will provide a sustainable presence of a person on the moon and around it in the framework of NASA's plans for the study of the Moon Artemis.
P.S.
Currently, another two earth apparatus is approaching Mars, this is the Chinese Tianwen-1, which was published in the Red Planet orbit February 10 after a 202-day interplanetary travel, and the UAE device "Probe of Hope", which is now in a slightly whiter than 22,000 km from the planet.
