Mars Perseverance

  • To unlock all of features of Rams On Demand please take a brief moment to register. Registering is not only quick and easy, it also allows you access to additional features such as live chat, private messaging, and a host of other apps exclusive to Rams On Demand.

CGI_Ram

Hamburger Connoisseur
Moderator
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
48,079
Name
Burger man
This will be fun to watch! Mainly the helicopter for me.

Mars 2020/2021 Perseverance

Mission Name
: Mars 2020
Rover Name: Perseverance
Main Job: The Perseverance rover will seek signs of ancient life and collect rock and soil samples for possible return to Earth.
Launched: July 30, 2020
Launch Location: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
Landing: Feb. 18, 2021
Landing Site: Jezero Crater, Mars
Mission Duration: At least one Mars year (about 687 Earth days)
Tech Demo: The Mars Helicopter is a technology demonstration, hitching a ride on the Perseverance rover.

Over the past two decades, missions flownby NASA’s Mars Exploration Program have shown us that Mars was once very different from the cold, dry planet it is today. Evidence discovered by landed and orbital missions point to wet conditions billions of years ago. These environments lasted long enough to potentially support the development of microbial life.

The Mars 2020/Perseverance rover is designed to better understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life. The mission will collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. It will also test new technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars.

Key Objectives
• Explore a geologically diverse landing site
• Assess ancient habitability
• Seek signs of ancient life, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time
• Gather rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by a future NASA mission
• Demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration

Mission Timeline
• Launch in July-August 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida
• Launching on a ULA Atlas 541 procured under NASA’s Launch Services Program
• Land on Mars on February 18, 2021 at the site of an ancient river delta in a lake that once filled Jezero Crater
• Spend at least one Mars year (two Earth years) exploring the landing site region

Key Hardware
Perseverance will carry seven instruments to conduct unprecedented science and test new technology on the Red Planet. They are:

Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the ability to zoom. The instrument also will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover operations. The principal investigator is James Bell, Arizona State University in Tempe.

SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy at a distance. The principal investigator is Roger Wiens, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. This instrument also has a significant contribution from the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (CNES/IRAP), France.

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and high-resolution imager to map the fine-scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis of chemical elements than ever before. The principal investigator is Abigail Allwood, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC),a spectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to map mineralogy and organic compounds. SHERLOC will be the first UV Raman spectrometer to fly to the surface of Mars and will provide complementary measurements with other instruments in the payload. SHERLOC includes a high-resolution color camera for microscopic imaging of Mars’ surface. The principal investigator is Luther Beegle, JPL.

The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), a technology demonstration that will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide. If successful, MOXIE’s technology could be used by future astronauts on Mars to burn rocket fuel for returning to Earth. The principal investigator is Michael Hecht, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape. The principal investigator is Jose Rodriguez-Manfredi, Centro de Astrobiología, Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Spain.

The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX), a ground-penetrating radar that will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface. The principal investigator is Svein-Erik Hamran, the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment, Norway.

Rover Size and Dimensions

Perseverance’s body and other major hardware (such as the cruise stage, descent stage, and aeroshell/heat shield) build upon the success of NASA’s Curiosity rover and include many heritage components.

The car-sized Perseverance rover has roughly the same dimensions as Curiosity: it’s about 10 feet long (not including the arm), 9 feet wide, and 7 feet tall (about 3 meters long, 2.7 meters wide, and 2.2 meters tall). But at 2,260 pounds (1,025 kilograms), Perseverance is about 278 pounds (126 kilograms) heavier than Curiosity.

Technology

Perseverance will also test new technology for future robotic and human missions to the Red Planet. That includes an autopilot for avoiding hazards called Terrain Relative Navigation and a set of sensors for gathering data during the landing (Mars Entry, Descent and Landing Instrumentation 2, or MEDLI2). A new autonomous navigation system will allow the rover to drive faster in challenging terrain.

As with Curiosity, Perseverance’s baseline power systemis a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. It uses the heat from the natural decay of plutonium-238 to generate electricity.
Program Management

The Mars 2020 Project is managed for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C., by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California. At NASA Headquarters, George Tahu is the Mars 2020 program executive and Mitchell Schulte is program scientist. At JPL, John McNamee is the Mars 2020 project manager and Ken Farley of Caltech is project scientist.
 

Neil039

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Apr 3, 2020
Messages
3,908
Love NASA but this thread went over the top interesting
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
Perseverance will also test new technology for future robotic and human missions to the Red Planet. That includes an autopilot for avoiding hazards called Terrain Relative Navigation
Hey @bluecoconuts. You know this is impossible. Bone loss, metabolic changes, muscle deterioration. Bone loss would continue at a steady rate of 1 to 2 per cent for every month of weightlessness. During a three-year mission to Mars, space travellers could lose around 50 per cent of their bone material. Nasa is stupid for even suggesting this. Can't happen, and anyone who thinks it can is daft.

tenor.gif
 

Loyal

Rams On Demand Sponsor
Rams On Demand Sponsor
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Messages
29,450

bluecoconuts

Legend
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
13,073
Hey @bluecoconuts. You know this is impossible. Bone loss, metabolic changes, muscle deterioration. Bone loss would continue at a steady rate of 1 to 2 per cent for every month of weightlessness. During a three-year mission to Mars, space travellers could lose around 50 per cent of their bone material. Nasa is stupid for even suggesting this. Can't happen, and anyone who thinks it can is daft.

View attachment 37897

:ROFLMAO: Okay, lucky for you, I wouldn’t wish a Seachickens hat on my worst enemy, let alone a friend, so you’re in the clear.

They also have to figure out better protection from radiation exposure as well, it’s likely that the first manned missions will be more like The Martian, with them awake and needing to exercise a few hours each day.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
:ROFLMAO: Okay, lucky for you, I wouldn’t wish a Seachickens hat on my worst enemy, let alone a friend, so you’re in the clear.

They also have to figure out better protection from radiation exposure as well, it’s likely that the first manned missions will be more like The Martian, with them awake and needing to exercise a few hours each day.
I'm still trying to figure out *why* we need to visit an uninhabitable planet. I'd think robots would be hella more capable of gathering the information we would need.
 

bluecoconuts

Legend
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
13,073
I'm still trying to figure out *why* we need to visit an uninhabitable planet. I'd think robots would be hella more capable of gathering the information we would need.

Obviously humans are able to do more in the sense that we can just move easier, and gather stuff easier, but really the reason why we're doing it is to show that we can.

Don't get me wrong, we'll likely make some interesting discoveries, but it's not as if we're gonna stumble onto some ancient civilization. I think at most we could discover would be signs that life was once there, but as you said, Robots can do the same.

But it's a step. After this, expect focus to move towards the outer planets or more likely their moons. Think Titan/Europa etc. A research facility on Mars wouldn't be a terrible idea, but really there doesn't need to be much, because there's no much there.

It's why NASA doesn't give a shit about the moon anymore, we went there, we grabbed some rocks, learned a couple of interesting things, but mostly it was about saying we did it.

Or in short:

-X-: Why?
NASA: Cause we can?
 

bluecoconuts

Legend
Joined
May 28, 2011
Messages
13,073
Now you're talkin'. Quit fucking around on this board and get on achieving light speed travel by magnetic sail combined with Bussard fusion ram jet, ya slacker.

I’m also gonna incorporate a mini black hole just so I can get some collider time.
 

-X-

Medium-sized Lebowski
Joined
Jun 20, 2010
Messages
35,576
Name
The Dude
I’m also gonna incorporate a mini black hole just so I can get some collider time.
What was the most ridiculous thing you've seen in a space movie?
(prolly deserves its own thread)

Anything Arnold Schwarzenegger was in doesn't count.
 

CGI_Ram

Hamburger Connoisseur
Moderator
Joined
Jun 28, 2010
Messages
48,079
Name
Burger man
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #17
What’s the name of that fucking rover again?

tenor.gif