The Mars rover Perseverance is headed for a compact patch on the edge of an ancient river delta. The biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA may become the ninth spacecraft to successfully land on Mars.
Image: mars.nasa.gov
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February was full of nail-biting moments of truth for three countries — indeed, the world — as three separate Mars missions approach the red planet. The Hope craft launched by the United Arab Emirates was the first to successfully enter the orbit of Mars. China's Tianwen-1 and the US's Mars 2020 craft also reached for the red planet with orbiters and rovers.
Of the three missions, the US's brings the most experience and confidence. It is also the most innovative. Its cargo includes the first made-for-Mars helicopter: Ingenuity.
It will be the first to test flight on another planet, in an atmosphere that's thinner than the Earth's, and may help our understanding of future human spaceflight beyond the moon.
Mars 2020 rover Perseverance stands by the first ever Martian helicopter, IngenuityImage: NASA/JPL-Caltech
But, as any engineer will tell you, space is never easy. So, the people at NASA will be just as tense as their colleagues in the UAE and China.
All three missions lifted off in July to take advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars, traveling some 300 million miles in nearly seven months.
First up: The Emirates Mars Mission
The Emirates Mars Mission (EMM) launched its probe called Hope on July 20, 2020, from Tanegashima Space Center, Japan.
Hope is the first Arab interplanetary mission. It aims to provide scientists with a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere. And they promise to share the data.
The so-called burn was always going to be "a rather nerve-wracking 27 minutes," in the words of one EMM spokesperson. That's when the orbiter has to burn off fuel and slow down to meet its target.
The operation was fully autonomous, with the probe 11 minutes' radio-time away from Earth.
Hope used six thrusters to provide 650 Newtons of power. Firing the thrusters for that long can expose the spacecraft to a lot of stress, from vibrations through to heat. It is "easily the most dangerous operation of the mission," said the spokesperson.
But all went well. The Hope Probe now starts a two Earth-year mission (or one Martian year). And the UAE has become the first Arab nation to get to Mars.
Second: Tianwen-1
China's first independent Mars mission was launched on July 23, 2020, from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province.
Tianwen-1 also entered a Martian orbit during the second week of February — the day after the EMM and two days before the Chinese New Year.
A Chinese Long March-5 rocket carried Tianwen-1, an orbiter, lander and rover, to MarsImage: Getty Images/AFP
The spacecraft conducted a "braking" operation to decelerate its speed to a point at which it can be captured by Mars' gravity. As with the EMM, the Tianwen-1 probe will survey the Martian atmosphere.
But that's not all. The main part of the mission is scheduled for May when China aims to soft-land a rover in the southern part of Mars' Utopia Planitia.
China sees Tianwen-1 as a step towards future missions that would bring back rock and soil samples from Mars to Earth.
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Third: Perseverance and Ingenuity
The USA's latest Mars mission involves a new rover called Perseverance and a helicopter called Ingenuity. Ingenuity is strapped to the belly of the rover.
The rover is due to land this Thursday, on February 18 at about 20:55 UTC at a place called Jezero Crater.
It will descend through the Martian atmosphere at a speed of about 20,000 kilometers per hour/kph (12,000 miles per hour). It will be slowed with a parachute and a powered descent to about 3.2 kph.
NASA's Mars 2020 may pave the way for human missions to MarsImage: NASA/JPL-Caltech/picture alliance
Then, a large sky crane will lower the rover on three bridle cords until it lands softly on six wheels.
That's the plan, anyway. NASA has landed a number of rovers on Mars over the years, but as it says itself: "Landing on Mars is hard."
Race to the Red Planet
NASA describes Perseverance as a "robotic astrobiologist." It is the largest and "most sophisticated" rover ever sent to the Red Planet's surface.
Perseverance will look for signs of ancient Martian life. It will also demonstrate technologies for making oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. It is hoped the mission will prepare the ground for future human missions to Mars and our moon.
More missions of the Martian horizon: An illustration of Japan's MMX which will investigate the Martian moonsImage: JAXA
So, this really is only the very beginning. The fact that there are two large, experienced nations with interplanetary ambitions, in the US and China, plus a relative newcomer — and further US-European and a Japanese Mars mission waiting in the wings — reflects a definite sense of a new race beyond what humans have done before in space.
This article has been updated.
NASA's rover Perseverance has landed on Mars
Perseverance is NASA's fifth Mars rover and its biggest and heaviest to date. Its mission on the Red Planet has started this Thursday.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A new rover for the red planet
NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover (shown in artist's illustration) is the most sophisticated rover NASA has ever sent to Mars. Ingenuity, a technology experiment, will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet. Perseverance touched down at Mars' Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021 at about 20:57 UTC with Ingenuity attached to its belly.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Everything prepared
NASA engineers loaded the Mars rover Perseverance onto an Atlas V rocket at the start of July 2020. The rocket took off on July 30 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The rover arrived at the orbit around Mars in early February 2021.
Image: NASA
Presentation in a clean room
This is how Perseverance looked when it was presented to the public in 2019. The rover will support NASA's Curiosity rover, the most modern rover until Perseverance came along. The new rover weighs a little over a ton — 100 kg (220 pounds) more than its predecessor. And at 3 meters (10 ft) long, it's also 10 centimeters longer as well.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
More performance
Perseverance can be loaded with more research instruments and sensors than its predecessor. And its gripper arm, with its cameras and tools, is stronger, too. The rover can collect samples from Mars. It's got 23 cameras and many other instruments. One mission is to test whether it's possible to extract oxygen from Martian rock. But, hey, what's that standing next to the rover on the ground?
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
A small drone
That's right! Perseverance has a helicopter onboard. That's never happened on a planetary mission before. The helicopter is completely new territory for its developers. It will be the first time they're able to experience and collect data from flight in atmospheric conditions that are different from those on Earth, and in a gravity that is about a third of our own.
Image: NASA/Cory Huston
The robotic giant
Curiosity is the largest and most modern of all Mars rovers currently deployed. It landed on August 6, 2012, and has since traveled more than 21 kilometers (13 miles). It is much more than just a rover. Its official name is "Mars Science Laboratory," and it really is a complete lab on wheels.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Nasa/Jpl-Caltech/Msss
What's in it?
For example, it contains a special spectrometer, which can analyze chemical compounds from a distance with the help of a laser; a complete meteorological station that can measure temperature, atmospheric pressure, radiation, humidity and wind speed; and most importantly, a chemistry lab that can run detailed analyses of organic compounds and is always on the hunt for traces of alien life.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Not just scratching the surface
Curiosity has shown that life would theoretically be possible on Mars. But it hasn't discovered any life, yet. The robot's arm is equipped with a full power drill. Here, it's taking a sample in "Yellowknife Bay" inside the Gale Crater.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Off to the lab!
The Mars dust is processed by a large number of instruments. First, it's filtered and separated into different-sized particles. Then, those get sorted and sent off to different analytical laboratory machines.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/NASA
A tiny predecessor
Curiosity's predecessors were much smaller. On July 4, 1997, the small Mars rover Sojourner left its first tire tracks behind in the dust of the red planet. It was the first time a mobile robot had been left to its own devices there, equipped with an X-ray spectrometer to conduct chemical analyses and with optical cameras.
Image: NASA/JPL
Size comparison
Three rover generations. (The tiny one up front is Sojourner.) At 10.6 kilograms (23 pounds), it's not much bigger than a toy car. Its top speed: 1 centimeter per second. Opportunity weighs 185 kilograms — roughly the equivalent of an electric wheelchair. Curiosity is as big as a small car, at 900 kilograms. The big ones travel up to 4 or 5 centimeters per second.
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Almost four months of duty
Sojourner travelled about 100 meters during its lifetime and delivered data and pictures until September 27, 1997. This is one of the last pictures of it, taken nine days before the radio connection broke down. Sojourner probably died because the battery did not survive the cold nights.
Image: NASA/JPL
Paving the way for tomorrow's technology
Without the experience of Sojourner, newer rovers could have hardly been envisaged. In 2004, NASA landed two robots of the same model on Mars: Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit survived for six years, travelling a distance of 7.7 kilometers. The robot climbed mountains, took soil samples and withstood winter and sandstorms. Its sibling, Opportunity, lost contact on February 13, 2019.
Image: picture alliance/dpa
Lots of gadgets
Opportunity passed the marathon distance of 42 kilometers back in 2015, and to this day, it has covered much more ground than Curiosity. It can take ground probes with its arm. It has three different spectrometers and even a 3D camera. It was last operating in "Perseverance Valley," an appropriate workplace for the sturdy robot, before being incapacitated by a sandstorm.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The red planet's landscapes
This panorama was taken by Curiosity's mast camera. The most modern of the rovers will stay in service as long as possible — hopefully at least another five years. The Martian landscape looks familiar somehow, not unlike some deserts here on Earth. Should we give in to our wanderlust, then — or would it be better leave Mars to the robots?
