Missions to Mars

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

3 missions prepare to explore Mars and other space news to expect in 2021

VIDEO

CNN - It's time to go deeper into space.

 While 2020 may have derailed and delayed some scientific plans due to the pandemic, 2021 still promises to be a year of science "the likes of which we've rarely seen," according to Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

Multiple missions will explore Mars, new telescopes will begin observations and plans are underway to return humans to the moon by 2024.

The Parker Solar Probe will make its next close approach of the sun in January. The OSIRIS-REx mission will begin its two-year return journey to Earth after successfully collecting a sample of the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. The ongoing NASA Juno mission continues to rewrite what we know about Jupiter and its moons. And scientists will explore and study samples returned from the asteroid Ryugu by Japan's Hayabusa2 mission.

While the pandemic will likely delay the launch and progress of some missions, others remain on track, especially those already in space. Here's what else we can expect in 2021.

Exploring Mars in new ways

 

Edited January 6, 2021 by CaaC (John)

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

Nasa's Curiosity rover: 3,000 days on Mars

The US space agency (Nasa) is about to put its latest rover, Perseverance, on Mars. But we shouldn't forget that the existing robot, Curiosity, is still there and working well following its landing in equatorial Gale Crater back in 2012. Curiosity celebrates 3,000 Martian days, or Sols, on the surface of the Red Planet on Tuesday. The Mission Science Team has collected together a series of pictures that record some of the rover's major achievement

VIDEO & FULL REPORT

 

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

Mission Updates

January 25, 2021

To Dip a Toe or Not To Dip a Toe…

Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University

Today’s title image shows how diverse the area is that Curiosity is currently travelling through, with a part of a wheel for scale. A close look such as this one reveals all the different textures of rock surfaces, sets of ripples, some big rocks and small pieces of rock accumulated in patches.

Today’s discussions started with some strategizing as to if to make a short excursion, nicknamed the "toe-dip," in tosols’s plan or in the weekend plan. This "toe-dip" is a very short deviation from our current drive route to investigate a nearby unit, in fact, the contact between the unit Curiosity is standing on top of right now and a neighbouring unit. These contacts between two units are always of high interest to any geologist. At contacts, we can learn so much about the succession of processes that shaped the geologic environment at the time the sediments were laid down, and well before they became rocks. Or, in fact, well before at least the upper one of them became a rock because, at contact, a geologist can find out, if the upper unit was deposited before or after the lower unit became hard rock. And of course, we can see, if the laying-down of the upper unit had any influence on the lower unit, or if the upper unit includes pieces of the lower unit, or if the upper unit sealed off some water flow from below and caused mineral precipitation – just to name a few of the things geologist lookout for at contact between two units.

But back to today’s plan: Yes, we decided to drive to the area for the toe-dip tosol. APXS and MAHLI are investigating a target “Champagnac,” which is a large piece of rock in the multitude of options in today’s workspace, which had made itself interesting by its darker colour, which could indicate a change in chemistry from the usual-coloured rocks we have been investigating lately. Mastcam and the Navcams are again getting very busy this sol, with the usual workspace survey and post-drive imaging to prepare the next sol. On the science activities, Mastcam will investigate the area around a target “Marnac” by executing an investigation in multispectral mode with added stereo images, as well as perform a mosaic at the area the rover will approach for the ‘toe-dip’ to the contact with the nearby unit with a set of seven images.

Of course, Curiosity is doing her regular atmospheric monitoring. For this, she will image across the floor of Gale crater to see how much dust there is in the air between the rover and the distant crater rim, and she'll image toward the sun to measure the dust load in the atmospheric column. In addition, she will do image sequences to survey for clouds, dust devils, and dust lofting over the "Sands of Forvie." Other regulars include MARDI, which takes its usual image after the drive, and DAN, which surveys for water in passive mode. Another busy sol on Mars – and off she goes to dip a toe onto the contact nearby.

https://mars.nasa.gov/msl/mission-updates/8842/to-dip-a-toe-or-not-to-dip-a-toe/

 

[Carnivore Chris]

I'd love it if they found life on there. 

I doubt it though. If life exists outside of earth, it'll likely be outside of our solar system.

[nudge]

Just now, Carnivore Chris said:

I'd love it if they found life on there. 

I doubt it though. If life exists outside of earth, it'll likely be outside of our solar system.

Current life is very unlikely indeed, but signs of life that has potentially existed there millions of years ago... That would be huge! I hope they find biosignatures in solar system during my lifetime, and if I had to bet, I'd bet on Europa! 

[Carnivore Chris]

25 minutes ago, nudge said:

Current life is very unlikely indeed, but signs of life that has potentially existed there millions of years ago... That would be huge! I hope they find biosignatures in solar system during my lifetime, and if I had to bet, I'd bet on Europa! 

There's got to be life somewhere, without a doubt. 

Past life on Mars is also likely, it certainly looks like a planet that potentially once held life.

 

Speaking of space, what would you say this was? 

I took it the other night. You always see various planets and bright stars at this time of the year.

 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Carnivore Chris

[Stan]

7 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

I took it the other night. You always see various planets and bright stars at this time of the year.

 

which direction was it in?

Download the app called Stellarium. All you have to do is point your phone up to the sky and it'll tell you which stars are visible, galaxies you could see (not with the naked eye, mind), constellations or bright stars. 

 

If it was a planet, it could be Venus as it has a blue shade to it. If it was Mars it'd have a reddish hue.

[Carnivore Chris]

20 minutes ago, Stan said:

which direction was it in?

Download the app called Stellarium. All you have to do is point your phone up to the sky and it'll tell you which stars are visible, galaxies you could see (not with the naked eye, mind), constellations or bright stars. 

 

If it was a planet, it could be Venus as it has a blue shade to it. If it was Mars it'd have a reddish hue.

Venus was actually a different one, more south west, while this was probably more south east. This is why it was baffling as it does look like venus on the picture. 

I wish I had a powerful telescope, I may look into buying one when back on my feet. They seem to be a lot cheaper nowadays. 

Nice one for the recommendation of the app mate.

[nudge]

1 hour ago, Carnivore Chris said:

There's got to be life somewhere, without a doubt. 

Past life on Mars is also likely, it certainly looks like a planet that potentially once held life.

 

Speaking of space, what would you say this was? 

I took it the other night. You always see various planets and bright stars at this time of the year.

 

Could be Spica! It's a blueish star (actually two stars, but indistinguishable) Virgo constellation, very bright, and should be seen in the east-southeast at this time of the year. 

[nudge]

1 hour ago, Carnivore Chris said:

Venus was actually a different one, more south west, while this was probably more south east. This is why it was baffling as it does look like venus on the picture. 

I wish I had a powerful telescope, I may look into buying one when back on my feet. They seem to be a lot cheaper nowadays. 

Nice one for the recommendation of the app mate.

I second @Stan's recommendation for Stellarium, it's the best app for this purpose, in my opinion.

I bought a SkyQuest scope a few months ago, but even a pair of decent binoculars is a huge step up, and it's by far more convenient (and much cheaper). Can see soooo many objects with it. 

 

[Carnivore Chris]

28 minutes ago, nudge said:

Could be Spica! It's a blueish star (actually two stars, but indistinguishable) Virgo constellation, very bright, and should be seen in the east-southeast at this time of the year. 

That's probably it as it was seriously bright, as though it was constantly flickering. It's actually there every year thinking of it. But in slightly different locations.

So nudge, you could go back to Cambodia/Thailand tomorrow, or take a trip to mars, which would it be? 

 

[nudge]

2 minutes ago, Carnivore Chris said:

That's probably it as it was seriously bright, as though it was constantly flickering. It's actually there every year thinking of it. But in slightly different locations.

So nudge, you could go back to Cambodia/Thailand tomorrow, or take a trip to mars, which would it be? 

 

Is there beer on Mars? I DON'T THINK SO!!! 

[Mpache]

@nudge I had a thought. Not so much related to Mars though, but I was thinking that if Aliens were real (likely true) and there is life on other planets (not in our solar system) surely humans shouldn't interact. It would lead to another pandemic as they'd introduce diseases just as humans did to other continents long ago.

[nudge]

6 minutes ago, Mpache said:

@nudge I had a thought. Not so much related to Mars though, but I was thinking that if Aliens were real (likely true) and there is life on other planets (not in our solar system) surely humans shouldn't interact. It would lead to another pandemic as they'd introduce diseases just as humans did to other continents long ago.

This is the reason why the first astronauts who went to the Moon had to spend a month in quarantine after they returned...simply to avoid bringing any extra-terrestrial microorganisms back to Earth. That of course was a bit over-cautious, but in a hypothetic scenario where we make contact with alien life forms, quarantine and other preventative measures would definitely be high priority. It works both ways though, we want to protect other planets from contamination as well. Robotic spacecraft gets sterilised before leaving Earth for this reason. Planetary protection is an important principle in space exploration. 

[Stan]

18 minutes ago, Mpache said:

@nudge I had a thought. Not so much related to Mars though, but I was thinking that if Aliens were real (likely true) and there is life on other planets (not in our solar system) surely humans shouldn't interact. It would lead to another pandemic as they'd introduce diseases just as humans did to other continents long ago.

Out of curiosity, why is it 'likely true'?

[Mpache]

Just now, Stan said:

Out of curiosity, why is it 'likely true'?

Not been discovered yet to my knowledge, but given how the Universe is said to be more than our solar system on it's own, I can imagine millions of planets away there has to be at least some planet with more life forms. I'm not an expert or anything and it's not that fact based, but I can't imagine our planet being the only one with life on it. Just a bit of an educated guess you can say.

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

NEWS | January 27, 2021

NASA's Perseverance Rover 22 Days From Mars Landing

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is just 22 days from landing on the surface of Mars. The spacecraft has about 25.6 million miles (41.2 million kilometres) remaining in its 292.5-million-mile (470.8-million-kilometre) journey and is currently closing that distance at 1.6 miles per second (2.5 kilometres per second). Once at the top of the Red Planet’s atmosphere, an action-packed seven minutes of descent awaits – complete with temperatures equivalent to the surface of the Sun, a supersonic parachute inflation, and the first-ever autonomous guided landing on Mars.

 

FULL REPORT

 

[CaaC (John)+]

ENTER

[CaaC (John)+]

Quote

February 2, 2021

NASA's Perseverance Pays Off Back Home

FULL REPORT

 

 

[CaaC (John)+]

Be the rover: http://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/mars2020/

[nudge]

 

 

[Stan]

Might just look like an open barren surface but this is actually so cool seeing the surface and climate in such detail, and with sound!

 

 

[nudge]

4 minutes ago, Stan said:

Might just look like an open barren surface but this is actually so cool seeing the surface and climate in such detail, and with sound!

 

 

Might be just "an open barren surface", but it's an open barren surface on another planet, a world where no human had ever set foot on, almost 200 million kilometers away from us! I think we have been mostly spoiled and numbed by huge loads of information to such a degree that things like this do not seem groundbreaking anymore and people have largely become too apathetic to react or care. Imagine how ecstatic and excited the general public would have been if they had access to videos or images like this some 50 years ago!

[Stan]

1 minute ago, nudge said:

Might be just "an open barren surface", but it's an open barren surface on another planet, a world where no human had ever set foot on, almost 200 million kilometers away from us! I think we have been mostly spoiled and numbed by huge loads of information to such a degree that things like this do not seem groundbreaking anymore and people have largely become too apathetic to react or care. Imagine how ecstatic and excited the general public would have been if they had access to videos or images like this some 50 years ago!

Reminds me of a scene in The Crown where they depicted the moon landings in 1969.

Prince Philip was stunned, knew how important it was and the significance of it. The magnitude of the achievement but this wasn't reciprocated by his family. And he would urge them to watch it and take it all in. He realised it was a momentous occasion in history and would look back on it as such.

What you describe there is pretty much similar! 

Seeing such clear pictures of another planet is phenomenal and should never be understated or underappreciated. I wish we could see more!