Mars has always been a place of interest in the eyes of scientists and is quite popular in its portrayal in many pieces of media for being able to harbour life, which may be possible, which is why many space probes have been sent to learn about the red planet. On the 30th of July 2020, NASA had launched their Perseverance Rover and the Ingenuity Helicopter Drone under the mission name Mars 2020 and is currently en route to Mars, the individual probes themselves are intricate pieces of machinery that will hopefully bring new insight on the red planet. As of the time of writing, the spacecraft is currently in its cruise phase, engineers and scientists are closely monitoring the status of the spacecraft to ensure everything is in good condition and so the mission will go smoothly.
Lift - Off
The launch took place on the 30th of July 2020 at 4:50 am PDT on the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station located in Florida onboard an Atlas V rocket in the 541 configuration, the Atlas V has been used extensively as a medium to heavy launch system and also the launch system used in the past Curiosity rover and Insight lander, both being mars missions. The spacecraft is expected to perform its landing on the 18th of February 2021 on the Jezero Crater on Mars’s Northern hemisphere. It is likely that the mission duration of the rover is to be one Martian year (around 687 Earth days), the Ingenuity helicopter’s mission is expected to be a series of test flights lasting 30 Martian days. The Mars 2020 mission itself is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, which are a series of space probes sent to Mars with the intent to explore and study the planet, part of the program include missions like the Curiosity rover and the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter.
En Route to Mars
As of the time of writing, the spacecraft is currently in its cruise phase around the Sun, having ejected from the Earth’s sphere of influence shortly after reaching orbit LEO (Low Earth Orbit). Because Mars orbits at a different speed compared to Earth, planning when to launch is important as the mission has to be as efficient as possible, the launch date takes place when Mars is in a good position relative to the Earth, and because of the positioning of the planets, assuming everything goes according to plan, when the spacecraft ejects from Earth orbit, it should enter in an elliptical orbit around the Sun allowing the orbit of the spacecraft to intersect with the Martian orbit and enter into an orbit around Mars. The time taken to reach Mars from Earth is roughly seven months, during the transit period of the spacecraft, it will perform six trajectory correction maneuvers and one backup maneuver if needed, these maneuvers are put in place to alter the direction, flight path and speed of the spacecraft to ensure it’s landing goes smoothly.
The Spacecraft
The Mars 2020 mission is composed of two spacecraft, the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter, each containing their own set of complex parts and mechanisms to ensure everything goes well. The main point of interest is the Perseverance rover: It has a length of about 3 meters, a width of 2.7 meters, a height of 2.2 meters, with a weight of 1,025 kilograms, the main components of the rover mainly include sensors and cameras to observe the environment properly it's travelling around, an arm module as a means to take ground samples, all being managed with a 'BAE RAD 750' running at 200MHz, which is ten times the speed of the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, all of this being powered with a 'Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator' (MMRTG), which is a radioactive fuel source that converts the heat produced from the decay of plutonium into electricity. The Ingenuity helicopter is the tech demo that's a part of the mission; it's a small helicopter with a height of 0.49 meters and a rotor span of 1.2 meters, the aircraft is equipped with a central computer, navigation sensors, and two cameras, all being powered by solar energy.
Mission
Being a part of the Mars Exploration Program, the Mars 2020 mission aims to deepen our understanding of Mars-like all other missions that came before it as part of the program, the program itself focuses on unearthing the history of the planet, finding sources of water, exploring it's geology and seeking evidence for life with the ultimate goal of fully understanding the overall structure of the planet to send humans to the surface of Mars safely. The Mars 2020 mission was designed to search for signs of ancient microbial life to be observed and to further understand the Martian weather, winds, radiation, dust environments, and being a technology demonstration that will help when the first humans land on Mars. The rover will also be a part of a sample return mission, collecting Martian soil and rock samples and storing them in sealed tubes to be picked up in a future mission that will take them back to Earth for a detailed analysis of the samples.
Mars, the red planet, has always been an enigma for humans throughout history, always looming in the night sky, but through our perseverance, and ingenuity, we as humans have found ways to explore and learn more about the red planet. With the latest edition of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, the Mars 2020 mission has taken off by the 30th of July and is currently en route to Mars, the mission itself is composed of two parts, the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. The Perseverance rover will traverse the surface of Mars, collecting rock samples and making environmental analyses to find evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars, the Ingenuity helicopter is a technology demonstrator aiming to test the plausibility of flying machines on Mars and acts as a tester for future technologies that will be useful for when the first humans land on Mars. As time progresses, our understanding of Mars will advance along with our technology. It will be soon that we land the first humans on the red planet, which will be a day to remember in our long history.
To follow the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter on their journey to Mars, go to the website https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/cruise/ or follow the dedicated twitter account @NASAPersevere.
Bibliography
“Cruise.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/cruise/.
“Launch.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/launch/.
“Learn About the Rover.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/spacecraft/rover/.
“Mars 2020.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Aug. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_2020.
“Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/.
“Mars Helicopter.” NASA, NASA, mars.nasa.gov/technology/helicopter/.
“NASA's Mars Exploration Program.” NASA, NASA, 3 June 2014, mars.nasa.gov/.
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