In 8 days time, I will be – by name at least – an alien. That’s when the latest rover lands on Mars, and with it, a microchip containing over 10 million names from Earth.
NASA’s Perseverance Rover, which took off in July of last year, is scheduled to touch down on February 18th at 12:55pm PT in Mars’ Jezero Crater. That is, if it can withstand the renowned “7 Minutes of Terror” that will see the descent module enter the thin, Martian atmosphere at over 12,000 miles per hour. Hiding behind a heat shield, the module will be slowed by both a 70-foot parachute, as well as landing engines that will fire once the module is 1-mile above the surface. Learn more about the Entry, Descending, and Landing [EDL] in the video below, which also features a super cool “Sky Crane Maneuver” and the use of a new precision landing tech.
Provided it sticks the landing, Perseverance is our most exciting and ambitious rover yet. Namely, because it features the FIRST MARTIAN HELICOPTER – Ingenuity – that will allow us to travel farther than ever before. The car-sized rover also comes equipped with a drill core, and a built-in microphone and camera system that – while not quite capable of Twitch streaming – will provide a more immersive introduction to the Red Planet. (Although, I’m not sure how stoked I am for the static on that descent audio.)
On its 1-year planned mission, Perseverance will collect samples from the Jezero Crater (thought to be an ancient lakebed) to help us better understand Mars’ environment, including its past habitability and, perhaps, past life. These samples are later planned to be returned to Earth through a “fetch rover” mission. Ultimately, these tests will also help support the viability of a Mars as a place for human life, including testing oxygen production from the Martian atmosphere.
