On February 18, the whole world will observe the landing of the Perseverance Marshode on Mars. It is planned that Perseverance - "perseverance" in translation into Russian - will land at about 23:55 Moscow time in the area of Crater Jeretero. If the landing is successful, the NASA team will check all the systems of the Marshode and its equipment for several months. The purpose of the residence "perseverance" on the Red Planet, which was once so warmer and, perhaps, even suitable for life, is to study the most ancient region of Mars - Crater Jeretero. The fact is that geological formations are scattered throughout the crater, hinting that in the past on the planet there was water, including the remains of the lake and the river delta. The study of the composition of these breeds is in the region where there has not yet had a single spacecraft - will give NASA the best chance to answer the eternal question about whether there ever lives life on Mars. Recently, in Nature magazine, a detailed animation was published how the successful landing of Perseverance should look like.
Where will Perseverance land?
Crater Jeretero - a special place. Hex Perseverance will explore it as a geologist's robot. If everything goes well, then by the end of their first Martian year on the surface - a little less than two years on Earth - the mercier will be held more than 15 kilometers and will collect a precious set of samples, which will then reset to Martian land, where future spacecraft will once be able to collect them - this There will be the first attempt to return Martian stones to the ground.
Researchers believe that Billions of years ago, the river fell into the Jereter from the west, spreading to a large lake that filling the crater. The sedimentary rocks went out over time formed a fan-shaped delta. For this reason, one of the objectives of "perseverance" will be the search for the organic matter in the rocks of the river delta, which could indicate whether the microbes or other forms of life have flourished in this region.
On the land of the delta, such as the Mississippi River delta, contain a huge amount of organic material that decompose the remains of plants and other substances. If the same thing happened in the Delta Jeretero, then the mercier is likely to detect the remains of the organic matter. Note that in February the mission at once, three countries - the United States, the UAE and China reached the Red Planet. For more information about the missions, I told in this article.
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Another place to search for signs of past life on Mars is along the ancient banks of the lake. In particular, "perseverance" will study the arc cliffs passing along the delta and in parallel to the edge of the crater. Earlier observations from orbital spacecraft assume that these breeds can be made of carbonate minerals, which are relatively rare on Mars, but are common on Earth. Carbonates, including limestone, are often associated with alive organisms, such as coral reefs, and with fossils that retain past organisms, such as microbes.
The largest problem of Perseverance after landing will be a quick and effective study of all these target areas and sample collection. NASA specialists have allocated only one Martian year (equivalent to almost two years on Earth) for the mission "perseverance." For this reason, researchers develop routes by which the rover can go shortly after landing. As you can see, from where the spacecraft will land, much depends.
Landing Marsohoda
On the official website of NASA, it is reported that the rover is ready for landing. In accordance with the plan, the descent and landing will begin when the spacecraft reaches the upper layers of the atmosphere, its speed at this stage will be approximately 20,000 kilometers per hour. It is planned that the parachute will open during the decline, after which the protective cover is separated. But to reduce the speed of the device should earn brake engines of the planting module.
The landing itself, which experts of the agencies are not different as "seven minutes of horror" will be completely autonomous. Since it takes more than 11 minutes to receive a radio signal from Mars, it is impossible to control the rover from the ground. At that moment, when the management team receives a signal that "perseverance" entered the atmosphere, the device will already be on the surface of the Red Planet.
See also: The Chinese device "Tianwean-1" made a new photo of Mars
The first pictures of the surface of Mars, made using the Perseverance cameras, will be transferred to the ground shortly after the planned landing. Recall that there are 23 cameras, a couple of microphones and other instruments intended for carrying out various types of studies on the PERSEVERANCE housing. On the development, manufacture and test of the chambers of the Marshode went about seven years. Will you watch the historical landing of "perseverance" on Mars?