hiker
perseverance NASA, which is currently hovering in the Jezero crater area, has deposited the first sample of soil on the surface of the Red Planet, hoping that an unbuilt spacecraft will pick up the tubes within the next decade. The specimen was collected on January 31 and informally named “Malay”. The piece of Martian soil is about the size of a piece of chalk. It’s protected from the rigors of the Martian environment in a titanium tube.
”
Seeing our first specimen on Earth is a major mission period highlight
“, to me
announce In a press release, Rick Welch, deputy project manager
perseverance at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are developing a lander designed to take samples from a special perseverance chamber, put them into a rocket, and send them back to Earth. Such a mission would take samples to the early 2030s.
Assuming
perseverance Unable to reach the lander and deliver its precious payload, the backup plan is to retrieve the samples it dropped on Earth in a twin helicopter. Extensively validated solution thanks
clevernessthe small rotorcraft that has achieved a series of feats on Mars with more than 30 flights to its credit.
Engineers are using OPTIMISM, a full-size replica of the Perseverance rover to test how to drop the first sample tube on Mars. The test took place at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s Mars Yard. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
over the next few weeks,
perseverance More samples are expected to be deposited before the end of its main mission period on January 6, 2023. These samples will allow us to learn more about the geology and climate of Mars and to search for signs of the presence of microbes on the Red Planet. NASA isn’t the only one who wants to return samples from Mars. The Japanese space agency also hopes to prepare the MMX mission that plans to land on Mars’ moon Phobos and return these samples before the end of the decade.
CNET.com article adapted from CNETFrance
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
