Missions to Mars

[CaaC (John)+]

Mars: Green glow detected on the Red Planet

Scientists have identified a green light in the atmosphere of Mars.

A similar glow is sometimes seen by astronauts on the space station when they look to the Earth's limb.

The glow comes from oxygen atoms when they're excited by sunlight.

The phenomenon has long been predicted to occur on other planets, but the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) - a joint European-Russian satellite at Mars - is the first to make the observation beyond Earth.

"It's a nice result," said Dr Manish Patel from the UK's Open University.

"You'd never plan a mission to go look for this kind of thing. Today, we have to be very clear about the science we're going to do before we get to Mars. But having got there, we thought, 'well, let's have a look'. And it worked."

To be clear, this is different from classic aurora like the Northern and Southern Lights.

These emissions are the consequence of collisions between atmospheric molecules and charged particles that are racing away from the Sun. On Earth, this type of interaction is heavily influenced by our planet's strong magnetic field, which pulls those particles down on to the poles.

Aurora are not focussed in quite the same way on Mars because this world doesn't have a global magnetic field, but such emissions nonetheless exist and have already been observed.

The green glow seen by astronauts at the edge of the Earth - and now by the TGO at Mars - has a separate origin. It's sunlight that's doing the work. Oxygen atoms are raised to a higher energy level and when they fall back to their resting state, they produce the tell-tale green emission.

Earth has abundant oxygen in its atmosphere. But on Mars it's largely present only as a breakdown product of carbon dioxide. Sunlight will free one of the oxygen atoms in CO2, and it's the transition of this atom that's glowing green on the Red Planet.

The TGO detects the excited oxygen not with an imaging camera (hence no pretty pictures) but with its Nomad spectrometer package. This instrument sees the oxygen at very particular altitudes.

In a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, these altitudes are at 80km and 120km above the surface. The precise altitudes are dependent on the pressure of CO2.

"And by looking at the altitudes of where this emission is, you can actually tell the thickness of the atmosphere and how it's varying," explained Dr Patel.

"So, if you were to keep observing this phenomenon, you could see the height of the atmosphere change, something it does for example when it heats up during dust storms. This is an issue we face when we try to land on Mars because we're never quite sure just how thick the atmosphere will be when we plough through it to get to the surface."

Theoretically, therefore, you could use observations of the green glow to help inform the models that guide the entry, descent and landing of Mars probes.

The glow at Mars was detected by the TGO's Nomad instrument, which is led by the Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (IASB-BIRA). Dr Patel is the co-principal investigator on Nomad's ultraviolet and visible spectrometer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53057055

Edited June 16, 2020 by CaaC (John)

[CaaC (John)+]

Europe pushes ahead with 'dune buggy' Mars rover

The European Space Agency is moving rapidly to develop its next Mars rover.

It already has one vehicle set to go to the Red Planet in 2022 but is now pushing ahead with a second robot, which will depart in 2026.

This additional rover is part of the US-European project to return rock samples to Earth for analysis.

Esa has awarded an advanced B2 contract to the UK arm of the aerospace giant Airbus, which will enable the firm to kick-start the necessary technologies.

The new rover is dubbed "Fetch" because its mission will be to find and retrieve the rock samples that have been collected and cached on the surface by the American Perseverance rover, which is heading to Mars next month.

Perseverance will drill interesting rocks and put the tailings in small tubes, which it will then drop to the ground.

The UK-built Fetch robot will pick up these cylinders and take them to a rocket system that will fire the samples up into space where a satellite will be waiting to capture them and bring them home.

Esa and its US counterpart, Nasa, want to despatch the Fetch robot and rocket system to Mars in 2026. The limited-time means Esa has had to compress its normal contracting arrangements with industry and is effectively sole-sourcing from Airbus. Ordinarily, companies would still be in open competition at this stage of a project.

"Because of the tight schedule, we came up with this idea of an advanced B2 contract that will allow our key sub-contractors on all the major systems to get to work right away," said Airbus project manager Ben Boyes.

The most obvious difference between Fetch and Esa's 2022 Rosalind Franklin rover is the locomotion system. Mars rovers have traditionally been six-wheelers. Fetch will have just four large wheels, giving it the look of a "dune buggy".

This design decision is controlled in part by the volume constraints of the capsule system that will take Fetch and its associated equipment to Mars, but also by the type of driving the rover will have to do when it gets on the ground.

Engineers envisage the 230kg Fetch robot as something of a speedster, travelling hundreds of metres a day over sometimes difficult terrain as it searches for, and retrieves, the rock canisters dropped by Perseverance.

"These wheels really are pretty big," explained Mr Boyes. "Rosalind Franklin's wheels are about 25cm in diameter; the wheels on Fetch are 70cm. But while Rosalind Franklin is an exploration mission where a decision can be taken to avoid the tricky ground, Fetch has a very specific job and will be under time pressure. It may need to cross the fractured ground."

The wheels have been developed by Nasa at its Glenn Research Center and the B2 contract will see examples fitted to a prototype rover, or breadboard, to demonstrate their capability.

This prototype will also feature a visual recognition system that identifies the sample tubes on the ground, a test robotic arm and gripper system to practise picking them up, and autonomous navigation technology to enable the vehicle to move around safely.

"In field trials we will do a full end-to-end system confidence test, to build on the individual technologies we're developing," Mr Boyes said.

"In these trials, we'll drive up to 100m, look around, find a tube, and pick it up. That's what we're really focussing on in this phase of the project."

Airbus has pulled into its consortium a lot of the top European space engineering companies, including Franco-Italian firm Thales Alenia Space with which it might still have been in competition during a more familiar Esa contracting process. Other big names include Italy's Leonardo, which is working on the robotic arm; and Canada's MDA, the company which made the chassis system for Rosalind Franklin.

The B2 phase will continue into 2021, when, assuming Esa is happy to proceed, the project will then roll straight into the build phase - what is called the C and D phases of the project.

European space ministers approved funding up to November 2022. They'll need to sanction more funds at that point, but the expectation is that the Fetch rover will be built and ready to ship to the US in 2025. It's in America that the rover will be integrated into the landing platform that also houses the rocket system to take the retrieved rock samples up into Mars orbit.

Europe will be building the waiting satellite as well. The announcement of the contract for the next phase of this element, known as the Earth Return Orbiter, is imminent.

Returning rock samples from Mars is an especially complex and expensive project (costing many billions), but if all the planned aspects come together it's hoped Earth laboratories could be examining small chunks of the Red Planet's crust is perhaps 2031.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53062617

Edited June 24, 2020 by CaaC (John)
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Mars rover assembly complete ahead of 2020 launch date

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Ingenuity: How the Mars helicopter will fly on another planet

In a space exploration first, NASA is preparing to deploy a chopper on the Red Planet. Flying in a fraction of Earth’s gravity, it should be a sight to behold.

Whether disrupting air traffic, returning glorious vistas of Earth from above, or just spying on the neighbours (if that’s your thing), drones have become a familiar sight in our skies. Now, for the first time, the US space agency NASA is poised to fly a drone-like helicopter in the atmosphere of another planet.

The craft, named Ingenuity, will hitch a ride to the Red Planet aboard the one-tonne Perseverance lander, NASA’s latest wheeled robotic rover mission to drive across the planet’s rugged surface. Perseverance will launch from Earth this summer, with a touchdown on Mars scheduled for 18 February 2021.

Flying in the alien atmosphere of another world is a feat that poses a unique set of engineering challenges and yet, if this small technology test mission is successful, it will furnish scientists with a new and highly effective way to explore the planets and moons of our Solar System. That’s because flying is a much faster way to get around than ground roving.

FULL REPORT

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Mars 2020: NASA delays Perseverance rover launch again

The Cape Canaveral liftoff is now timed for no earlier than 30 July.

NASA has delayed the launch of its newest Mars rover yet again, to the end of July at the earliest, this time for a rocket issue.

If the Perseverance rover is not on its way by mid-August, it will have to wait until 2022 when Earth and Mars are back in proper alignment, costing NASA close to $500 million for the delay alone.

Managers are now targeting to launch the Mars 2020 mission no earlier than 30 July for liftoff from Florida’s Cape Canaveral, eating up half of the month-long launch window.

The good news is that NASA is trying to eke out more time in this summer’s launch opportunity, now lasting until at least 15 August.

The chance to fly to Mars comes up only every 26 months.

It is NASA’s most ambitious Mars mission yet, totalling around $3 billion US dollars.

Besides seeking signs of past microscopic Martian life, Perseverance will gather rocks and soil for eventual return to Earth.

It will also deliver the Mars helicopter Ingenuity to the surface, where it aims to become the first drone to fly on another planet.

Rocket maker United Launch Alliance needs extra time to deal with a liquid oxygen sensor line that showed questionable readings during a recent practice countdown, officials said Tuesday.

Mars 2020 rover Perseverance © J. Krohn/AP

Previous technical concerns, including crane trouble at the pad, bumped the launch from the original 17 July to 20 July and then 22 July.

The United Arab Emirates and China, meanwhile, still are pressing ahead with launches of Mars spacecraft this month or next.

Russia and the European Space Agency had to bow out, delaying their Mars rover until 2022 because of delayed spacecraft testing and travel limitations due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Science Form

[CaaC (John)+]

Nasa Mars rover Perseverance is attached to the rocket

Nasa's Perseverance Mars rover has been attached to the top of the rocket that will send it toward the Red Planet.

The nosecone containing the rover and other spacecraft elements have been fixed to an Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The robot rover will search for signs of past life on the Red Planet.

Perseverance is scheduled to launch on 30 July at the earliest and will land in Jezero Crater near the Martian equator in February 2021.

In addition to scouting for signs of past biology, the mission also carries a drone-like helicopter that will demonstrate powered flight in the Martian atmosphere.

• Nasa Mars rover: Key questions about Perseverance

On Tuesday 7 July, a 60-tonne hoist on the roof of the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41 lifted the nose cone 39m (129ft) to the top of the United Launch Alliance vehicle.

There, engineers made the physical and electrical connections that will remain between the booster and spacecraft until about 50 to 60 minutes after launch, when the two are pyrotechnically separated and Perseverance is sent on its way.

John McNamee, project manager for the mission at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, said the mating had been "special" because "there are so many people who contributed to this moment".

He added: "To each one of them I want to say, 'we got here together, and we'll make it to Mars the same way'."

The targeted launch date has been pushed back three times, first to 20 July, then to 22 July and later to 30 July.

The launch window extends to the 15 August.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53363604

 

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[CaaC (John)+]

'Hope' and ambition drive UAE's Mars mission

In a first, the United Arab Emirates is despatching a satellite to Mars to study its weather and climate.

Hope, as the 1.3-tonne probe is called, is launching on an H-2A rocket from Japan's remote Tanegashima spaceport.

The 500-million-km journey should see the robotic craft arrive in February 2021 - in time for the 50th anniversary of the UAE's formation.

Lift-off is scheduled for 05:51 local time on Wednesday (21:51 BST on Tuesday).

Hope is one of three missions launching to Mars this month. The US and China both have surface rovers in the late stages of preparation

• Mars mud 'bounces' and flows 'like boiling toothpaste'
• Green glow detected on the Red Planet

Why is the UAE going to Mars?

The UAE has limited experience of designing and manufacturing spacecraft - and yet here it is attempting something only the US, Russia, Europe and India have succeeded in doing. But it speaks to the Emiratis' ambition that they should dare to take on this challenge.

Their engineers, mentored by American experts, have produced a sophisticated probe in just six years - and when this satellite gets to Mars, it's expected to deliver novel science, revealing fresh insights on the workings of the planet's atmosphere.

In particular, scientists think it can add to our understanding of how Mars lost much of its air and with it a great deal of its water.

The Hope probe is regarded very much as a vehicle for inspiration - something that will attract more young people in the Emirates and across the Arab region to take up the sciences in school and in higher education.

The satellite is one of a number of projects the UAE government says signals its intention to move the country away from a dependence on oil and gas and towards a future based on a knowledge economy.

But as ever when it comes to Mars, the risks are high. A half of all missions sent to the Red Planet have ended in failure. Hope project director, Omran Sharif, recognises the dangers but insists his country is right to try.

"This is a research and development mission and, yes, failure is an option," he told BBC News.

"However, failure to progress as a nation is not an option. And what matters the most here is the capacity and the capability that the UAE gained out of this mission, and the knowledge it brought into the country."

How has the UAE managed to do this?

The UAE government told the project team it couldn't purchase the spacecraft from a big, foreign corporation; it had to build the satellite itself.

This meant going into partnership with American universities that had the necessary experience. Emirati and US engineers and scientists worked alongside each other to design and build the spacecraft systems and the three onboard instruments that will study the planet.

While much of the satellite's fabrication occurred at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado, Boulder, considerable work was also undertaken at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) in Dubai.

LASP senior systems engineer Brett Landin believes the Emiratis are now in a great place to do another mission on their own.

"It's one thing to tell somebody how to ride a bike but until you've done it, you don't really understand what it's like. Well, it's the same with a spacecraft. I could give you the process for fuelling a spacecraft, but until you've put on an escape suit and transferred 800kg of highly volatile rocket fuel from storage tanks into the spacecraft, you don't really know what it's like.

"Their propulsion engineers have now done it and they know how to do it the next time they build a spacecraft."

What science will Hope do at Mars?

The Emiratis didn't want to do "me too" science; they didn't want to turn up at the Red Planet and repeat measurements that had already been made by others. So they went to a US space agency (Nasa) advisory committee called the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group (MEPAG) and asked what research a UAE probe could usefully add to the current state of knowledge.

MEPAG's recommendations framed Hope's objectives. In one line, the UAE satellite is going to study how energy moves through the atmosphere - from the top to the bottom, at all times of day, and through all the seasons of the year.

It will track features such as lofted dust which on Mars hugely influences the temperature of the atmosphere.

It will also look at what's happening with the behaviour of neutral atoms of hydrogen and oxygen right at the top of the atmosphere. There's a suspicion these atoms play a significant role in the ongoing erosion of Mars' atmosphere by the energetic particles that stream away from the Sun.

This plays into the story of why the planet is now missing most of the water it clearly had early in its history.

To gather its observations, Hope will take up a near-equatorial orbit that stands off from the planet at a distance of 22,000km to 44,000km.

"The desire to see every piece of real estate at every time of day ended up making the orbit very large and elliptical," explained core science team lead on Hope, David Brain from LASP.

"By making those choices, we will, for example, be able to hover over Olympus Mons (the largest volcano in the Solar System) as Olympus Mons moves through different times of the day. And at other times, we'll be letting Mars spin underneath us.

"We'll get full disc images of Mars, but our camera has filters, so we'll be doing science with those images - getting global views with different goggles on if you like."

Who is Sarah Al Amiri?

The science lead on Hope is also the UAE minister of state for advanced sciences - and in many ways is the face of this mission.

She first got involved with the MBRSC as a software engineer and is now trying to spread her passion for space far and wide.

It's notable that 34% of Emiratis working on Hope are women. "But more importantly, we have gender parity in the leadership team of this mission, across all deputy project manager roles reporting to Omran," the minister said.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53394737

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The UAE's mission launch has been delayed due to bad weather.

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

July 17, 2020

MEDIA ADVISORY M20-086

NASA to Broadcast Mars 2020 Perseverance Launch, Prelaunch Activities

engineers observe the first driving test for NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover in a cleanroom at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, on Dec. 17, 2019.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA is targeting 7:50 a.m. EDT Thursday, July 30, for the launch of its Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The launch window is approximately two hours, with a launch opportunity every five minutes.

Live launch coverage will begin at 7 a.m., on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

The mission – designed to better understand the geology and climate of Mars and seek signs of ancient life on the Red Planet – will use the robotic scientist, which weighs just under 2,300 pounds (1,043 kilograms) and is the size of a small car, to collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by future Mars sample return missions. It also will test new technologies to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars.

NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by Caltech in Southern California, built the Perseverance rover and will manage mission operations for NASA. The agency's Launch Services Program, based at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management.

Mars 2020 Perseverance is part of America’s larger Moon to Mars exploration approach that includes missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet. Charged with sending the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024, NASA will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028 through NASA's Artemis program.

Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, media participation in news conferences will be remote. Only a limited number of media, who already have been accredited, will be accommodated at Kennedy. For the protection of media and Kennedy employees, the Kennedy Press Site News Center facilities will remain closed to all media throughout these events.

The deadline for media to apply for accreditation for this launch has passed, but more information about media accreditation is available by contacting ksc-media-accreditat@mail.nasa.gov.

To participate in the Kennedy briefings by phone, reporters must e-mail ksc-newsroom@mail.nasa.gov no later than one hour prior to each event.

Questions also may be asked via social media with the hashtag #CountdownToMars.

Full mission coverage is as follows (all times Eastern):

Monday, July 27

1 p.m. – Mars 2020 Prelaunch News Conference. Participants include:

• NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
• Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
• Omar Baez, launch director, NASA’s Launch Services Program
• Matt Wallace, deputy project manager, JPL
• Tory Bruno, CEO, United Launch Alliance
• Jessica Williams, launch weather officer, 45th Space Force

3 p.m. – Mars 2020 Mission Engineering/Science Briefing. Participants include:

• Lori Glaze, NASA Planetary Science Division director
• Jennifer Trosper, deputy project manager, JPL
• Farah Alibay, mobility engineer, JPL
• Ken Farley, project scientist, Caltech
• Tanja Bosak, science team member, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tuesday, July 28

• 2 p.m. – Mars 2020 Mars Sample Return Briefing. Participants include:
  • Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, NASA’s Science Mission Directorate
  • David Parker, director of human and robotic exploration, ESA (European Space Agency)
  • Jeff Gramling, NASA Mars Sample Return Program director
  • Julie Townsend, sampling and caching operations lead, JPL
  • Chris Herd, returned sample science participating scientist, University of Alberta
  • Lisa Pratt, NASA planetary protection officer

• 4 p.m. – Mars 2020 Mission Tech and Humans to Mars Briefing. Participants include:
  • Jeff Sheehy, chief engineer, NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate
  • Jim Watzin, NASA Mars Exploration Program director
  • Michael Hecht, MOXIE principal investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
  • Mimi Aung, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter project manager, JPL
  • Amy Ross, lead spacesuit engineer NASA’s Johnson Space Center
  • Michelle Rucker, Mars Integration Group lead, NASA’s Johnson Space Center

Wednesday, July 29

Noon – Administrator Briefing. Participants include:

• NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine
• NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard
• Kennedy Center Director Bob Cabana
• NASA astronaut Zena Cardman

No phone bridge will be available for this event. In-person media at Kennedy’s Press Site countdown clock may ask questions.

Thursday, July 30

• 7 a.m. – NASA TV live launch coverage begins
• 11:30 a.m. – Postlaunch News Conference

Audio only of the news conferences and launch coverage will be carried on the NASA “V” circuits, which may be accessed by dialing 321-867-1220, -1240, -1260 or -7135. On launch day, "mission audio," the launch conductor’s countdown activities without NASA TV launch commentary, will be carried on 321-867-7135.

On launch day, a “clean feed” of the launch without NASA TV commentary will be carried on the NASA TV media channel. Launch also will be available on local amateur VHF radio frequency 146.940 MHz and UHF radio frequency 444.925 MHz, heard within Brevard County on Florida’s Space Coast.

For more information, visit:

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

 

NASA’s Mars 2020 press kit

:https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/mars_2020/launch/

 

[Stan]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

Hope probe: UAE launches historic first mission to Mars

The United Arab Emirates' historic first mission to Mars is underway, after a successful lift-off in Japan.

The Hope probe launched on an H2-A rocket from Tanegashima spaceport and is now on a 500-million-km journey to study the planet's weather and climate.

Two previous attempts to launch the probe in the past week had to be called off because of adverse weather.

Hope's arrival in February 2021 is set to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the UAE's formation.

Her Excellency Sarah Al Amiri, the science lead on Hope, spoke of her excitement and relief in seeing the rocket climb successfully into the sky. And she stated the impact on her country would be the same as that on America when its people watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing 51 years ago, also on 20 July.

"It was an anchor for an entire generation that stimulated everyone that watched it to push further and to dream bigger," she told BBC News.

"Today I am really glad that the children in the Emirates will wake up on the morning of the 20th of July having an anchor project of their own, having a new reality, having new possibilities, allowing them to further contribute and to create a larger impact on the world."

The UAE craft is one of three missions heading to Mars this month.

The US and China both have surface rovers in the late stages of preparation. The American mission, Perseverance, sent its congratulations to Hope. "I cannot wait to join you on the journey!" its Twitter account said.

 

Why is the UAE going to Mars?

FULL REPORT

[CaaC (John)+]

Life on Mars 'is on the horizon' - NASA chief confidently boasts we are going by the 2030s

NASA will send the first humans to Mars by the end of the next decade, space agency administrator Jim Bridenstine has announced today.

NASA has confirmed its commitment to put humans on Mars by the 2030s just weeks before the planned launch of the Mars 2020 rover. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine is certain astronauts can reach the Red Planet by first conquering the Moon. Under the guise of NASA's Artemis programme, the US space agency hopes to use the Moon as a stepping stone into the farther reaches of the solar system.

Mr Bridenstine spoke today (July 20) at an event with the Space Foundation.

Coincidentally, today marked the 51st anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the Moon in 1969.

The NASA chief has now said returning to the Moon for the first time in 48 years will open the doors to human exploration of Mars.

He said: "Throughout our history, people have always explored the world around them to discover the unknown, find new resources, expand their presence, and improve their existence.

Express

[CaaC (John)+]

 

China's Tianwen-1 Mars rover rockets away from Earth

Edited July 23, 2020 by CaaC (John)

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8 hours ago, CaaC (John) said:

 

China's Tianwen-1 Mars rover rockets away from Earth

Good stuff; the more "competition" in space, the better. 

February next year with all the orbital insertions and landings will surely be very interesting...

[CaaC (John)+]

55 minutes ago, nudge said:

Good stuff; the more "competition" in space, the better. 

February next year with all the orbital insertions and landings will surely be very interesting...

The 'Space Race' in full earnest, I love it. 

[nudge]

11 minutes ago, CaaC (John) said:

The 'Space Race' in full earnest, I love it. 

This one is also nice as the Chinese are partnering with ESA, CNES (French National Center for Space Studies), CONAE (Argentine National Space Activities Commission) and FFG (Austrian Research Promotion Agency) on this mission in various aspects. ESA is providing telemetry and communications support, CNES helped build the laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy instrument on the rover, FFG similarly assisted with the orbiter's magnetometer, CONAE operates the deep space tracking station in Argentina for the mission. So both a competion and a collaboration.

[Tommy]

Did the Chinese order their rocket on wish? 

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9 minutes ago, Tommy said:

Did the Chinese order their rocket on wish? 

Nah, they keep the good stuff for themselves and sell the counterfeit crap for cheapskate westerners on wish 

[CaaC (John)+]

Nasa Mars rover: How Perseverance will hunt for signs of past life

Nasa's Perseverance rover, due to launch to Mars this summer, will search an ancient crater lake for signs of past life. But if biology ever emerged on the Red Planet, how will scientists recognise it? Here, mission scientist Ken Williford explains what they're looking for.

Today, Mars is hostile to life. It's too cold for water to stay liquid on the surface, and the thin atmosphere lets through high levels of radiation, potentially sterilising the upper part of the soil.

But it wasn't always like this. Some 3.5 billion years ago or more, water was flowing on the surface. It carved channels still visible today and pooled in impact craters. A thicker carbon dioxide (CO2) atmosphere would have blocked more of the harmful radiation.

Water is a common ingredient in biology, so it seems plausible that ancient Mars once offered a foothold for life.

FULL REPORT

 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

Nasa Mars rover: Meteorite to head home to Red Planet

A small chunk of Mars will be heading home when the US space agency launches its latest rover mission on Thursday.

Nasa's Perseverance robot will carry with it a meteorite that originated on the Red Planet and which, until now, has been lodged in the collection of London's Natural History Museum (NHM).

The rock's known properties will act as a calibration target to benchmark the workings of a rover instrument.

It will give added confidence to any discoveries the robot might make.

This will be particularly important if Perseverance stumbles across something that hints at the presence of past life on the planet - one of the mission's great quests.

"This little rock's got quite a life story," explained Prof Caroline Smith, head of Earth sciences collections at the NHM and a member of the Perseverance science team.

"It formed about 450 million years ago, got blasted off Mars by an asteroid or comet roughly 600,000-700,000 years ago, and then landed on Earth; we
don't know precisely when but perhaps 1,000 years ago. And now it's going back to Mars," she told BBC News.

Discovered in the deserts of Oman in 1999, the meteorite, known as Sayh al Uhaymir 008, or SaU 008, is a classic piece of basalt - very similar to the type of igneous rock you will find, for example, at Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

It contains lots of pyroxene, olivine and feldspar minerals. And it's this well-studied chemistry, together with the meteorite's textures, that make it so useful for Perseverance.

The rock has been put in a housing, along with nine other types of material, on the front of the rover where it will be scanned from time to time by the Sherloc instrument.

This is a tool that contains two imagers and two laser spectroscopes, which together will investigate the geology of the rover's landing site - a 40km-wide crater called Jezero.

Satellite images suggest the bowl once held a lake, and scientists consider it to be one of the best places on Mars to try to find evidence of past microbial activity - if ever that took place.

Sherloc will study the local rocks and soil, looking for signatures of ancient biology.

What scientists don't want, however, is to have what they think is a "eureka moment" only to then realise Sherloc had developed some systematic error in its observations.

"We'll look at the calibration target in the first 60-90 days and perhaps not again for six months because we think the instrument is really very stable," said Dr Luther Beegle, Sherlock's principal investigator from Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"But if we start seeing interesting things on the surface of Mars that we can't explain in the spectra, then we'll look back to the calibration target to make sure that the instrument's working correctly.

"I think the best we're going to be able to do from a scientific perspective is to identify what we would call a 'potential bio-signature'.

"I don't think we'll ever be necessarily 100% sure because that's a hard measurement to make, which is why the sample-return aspect of Perseverance is so important."

The rover will package its most interesting rock samples into small tubes that will be left on the surface of Mars for retrieval and return to Earth by later missions.

Prof Smith is hopeful she'll get to work on this material, which could come back in the next 10-15 years.

The NHM expert is on an international panel that will determine how best to handle the extra-terrestrial rocks.

"I'm actually leading the curation focus group," she told BBC News. "By this time next year, we should have a really good plan for the sort of building we will need, the types of processes that will be happening in that building, and how we'll actually start curating the samples and making them available to scientists for study."

Researchers will have a much better chance of confirming life on Mars if they can assess the evidence using all the analytical tools available in Earth laboratories, as opposed to just the small suite of instruments carried by a robot rover.

Nasa's Perseverance rover is scheduled to lift off on a United Launch Alliance Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, during a two-hour window that begins at 07:50 local time (11:50 GMT; 12:50 BST).

The slice of SaU 008 won't be the only Martian meteorite on board. The rover's SuperCam instrument will have its own piece of Mars rock, again to act as a calibration target.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53491555

Edited July 26, 2020 by CaaC (John)

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[nudge]

Weather forecast currently still 80% GO.

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