Updates NASA's Mars 2020 Rover

[Notebook]

Flight over the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing site

https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/...the_Mars_2020_Perseverance_rover_landing_site

 

[GLS]

T-15 minutes.

---------- Post added at 12:47 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:35 PM ----------

Out of the final hold.

---------- Post added at 12:57 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:47 PM ----------

Into the first Centaur burn!
The only issue seems to be the altitude overlay that seems to be much higher than it should be... :uhh:

---------- Post added at 01:02 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 PM ----------

In parking orbit!!!

---------- Post added at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:02 PM ----------

Second Centaur burn under way!

 

[MarkWatney2015]

Bon voyage Perseverance! Hope your name is there riding too

 

[GLS]

Centaur shutdown! It is now on it's way to Mars*!!!!

*) or actually a point close to Mars, to avoid the Centaur hitting Mars

---------- Post added at 01:48 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:45 PM ----------

Spacecraft separation!!!!

 

[BrianJ]

Excellent launch :thumbup:

The only issue seems to be the altitude overlay that seems to be much higher than it should be...

Someone got the km<->miles conversion backwards. Doh.

 

[GLS]

AOS!!!
Next stop Mars!

 

[Notebook]

Airbus to build 'first interplanetary cargo ship'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-53575353

 

[Sbb1413]

Please rename this thread "NASA's Perseverance Rover"

 

[Mister Kite]

You can follow its progress in real time here:

Solar System Interactive

NASA’s Solar System Interactive (also known as the Orrery) is a live look at the solar system, its planets, moons, comets, and asteroids, as well as the real-time locations of dozens of NASA missions.

eyes.nasa.gov

Actually, you can follow everything there.

 

[Notebook]

Nasa's Mars rover and the 'seven minutes of terror' - BBC News

The US space agency (Nasa) has released an animation showing how its one-tonne Perseverance rover will land on Mars on 18 February.
The robot is being sent to a crater called Jezero where it will search for evidence of past life. But to undertake this science, it must first touch down softly.
The sequence of manoeuvres needed to land on Mars is often referred to as the "seven minutes of terror" - and with good reason.

 

[cannon_gray]

Perseverance is equipped with an advanced navigation system with panoramic and stereoscopic cameras, as well as an experimental installation MOXIE, which will try to extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, which is mainly composed of carbon dioxide. In addition, it can launch the unmanned aerial vehicle Mars Helicopter for a more detailed survey of the terrain. The device is equipped with two microphones. NASA hopes that these devices help Perseverance to touch, taste and finally hear the sounds of Mars. All samples of rocks and soil that the rover will collect using a drill and a robotic arm will be placed in sterile metal containers and left on the planet's surface. To deliver them to earth, NASA is planning another mission in 2026.

 

[Challenger007]

Perseverance is equipped with an advanced navigation system with panoramic and stereoscopic cameras, as well as an experimental installation MOXIE, which will try to extract oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, which is mainly composed of carbon dioxide. In addition, it can launch the unmanned aerial vehicle Mars Helicopter for a more detailed survey of the terrain. The device is equipped with two microphones. NASA hopes that these devices help Perseverance to touch, taste and finally hear the sounds of Mars. All samples of rocks and soil that the rover will collect using a drill and a robotic arm will be placed in sterile metal containers and left on the planet's surface. To deliver them to earth, NASA is planning another mission in 2026.

This is just 5 years from now! We will learn something new very soon. Of course, if all the data obtained from the samples are made public. After all, some information may be classified, depending on what is discovered.

 

[4throck]

Classify what ? That a rock is made of basalt ?

The teams behind each mission get to keep the data for themselves for a period. This is to allow them to publish their discoveries.
After that, the data becomes public, and available online. This is specially true for US missions.

 

[malcontent]

This hasn't been declassified yet:

 

[GLS]

The "EDL-is-so-crazy" video is out!

 

[jarmonik]

The expected landing is in 3 days and 20 h from now, probably something you don't want to miss. Would be nice to have the landing date at the topic's title to better catch readers attention.

 

[GLS]

Today is the big day!
Everybody hail the probe, so it can avoid the Big Green Mars Monster that eats probes.


If anyone has ~4h to burn, here are some press conferences:

(for the engineering crowd)

(for the science crowd)

 

[emin2004]

Today is the big day!
Everybody hail the probe, so it can avoid the Big Green Mars Monster that eats probes.


If anyone has ~4h to burn, here are some press conferences:

(for the engineering crowd)

(for the science crowd)

Waiting for the Landing

as it says from the Mars 2020 Website.

10 Hours from Now.

i'm actually starting to get concerned about the Landing.

the reason?

a Virtual Landing Dice is the reason why.

imagine this.

the Dice that NASA is holding has 3 Green Dot representing Success, and the other 3 are Red Dots representing Failure.

NASA Tosses the Dice and if it Lands on green, Success!

NASA then Tosses the Dice again and if it Lands on Red, Failure!

 

[Urwumpe]

Thats spaceflight. Guess how annoying it is, if you designed a comet lander for 10 years, launched it and let it fly for 10 years....only to find out, that the harpoons for anchoring the lander to the comet did not fire at all (either because of broken wire bridges or massively degraded pyrotechnics after 10 years in space) and a failed cold gas thruster meant it was impossible to use the screws in the landing gear for anchoring the lander. And now its bouncing away at 66% of the escape velocity of that comet.

You never really know if you had been successful - until the telemetry really confirms it.

But in case of NASA landing on Mars, the dice are clearly loaded towards success.

 

[Urwumpe]

ESA has prepared some of their data for some overview of the landing site:

Jezero crater through the eyes of Mars Express

On 18 February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover is expected to arrive at Jezero impact crater, the site of a former lake on Mars. The High Resolution Stereo Camera on ESA’s Mars Express has provided important context for the landing site and its surrounds.

www.esa.int

Explore the Jezero neighbourhood

Flyover movies, elevation maps, 3D views and detailed colour scenes: ESA’s Mars Express and ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter missions have provided imagery of Jezero Crater and the surrounding region in support of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing on 18 February 2021.

www.esa.int