In 2021 NASA�s new Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover will land on the Red Planet. It looks
a lot like the previous rovers sent to Mars, so how is Perseverance so different? Well
it is a totally new rover with new and exciting capabilities and innovations not seen on other
the rovers before.By comparison, Sojourner launched in 1996, was sent to Mars to test
the feasibility of low cost landings on and exploration of the Martian surface. It landed
using an airbag system allowing the craft to bounce to a landing on the planet. The
successful mission ended in September 1997.In 2004 the twin Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity
landed on Mars by also by using air bags. Spirit performed until communication was lost
in 2010. And due to a planetary dust storm, Opportunity stopped communicating in 2018.
Because of dust covering the solar panels, Opportunity was never able to recharge its
batteries so NASA, in 2019, officially declared Opportunity dead after 14 years of operation.NASA�s
next rover, Curiosity, landed on Mars in 2012. Curiosity was twice as long and 5 times heavier
than Spirit and Opportunity so it couldn�t land with airbags like they did. Instead,
NASA developed a landing system consisting of a parachute, descent vehicle, and an approach
called a �skycrane maneuver� for lowering the rover on a tether to the surface during
the final seconds before landing. Curiosity looked at the role water played on Mars and
continues to explore the planet�s past habitability. NASA�s Perseverance mission is different
from any of those other rover mission however.Each of the past rovers landing sites offered different
opportunities for exploration, with experiments to consider the possibility of past microbial
life, examine Martian soil, rocks, and ground level atmosphere looking for signs of previous
life. They were essentially doing robotic field geology. The new Perseverance Rover
will continue this science but will also concentrate on science that will help pave the way for
human life on Mars someday. The Perseverance rover helps prepare for future human exploration
of Mars by testing a technology for extracting oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, which
is 96 percent carbon dioxide. This new technology helps mission planners test ways of using
Mars� natural resources to support human explorers and improve designs for life support,
transportation, and other important systems for living and working on Mars.The Mars 2020
Perseverance Rover uses the same landing technique developed for Curiosity. Perseverance however
adds some amazing improvements with new entry, descent and landing technologies, such as
Terrain Relative Navigation (TRN). Terrain Relative Navigation allows the rover to detect
and to avoid hazardous terrain by diverting around obstacles during its descent through
the Martian atmosphere. Previous rovers simply landed and for the most part hoped that the
landing would be uneventful. Also brand new on the Mars Perseverance Rover is a system
called �Range Trigger�. Previous rovers landed but were not necessarily as close to
the exact landing spot as desired. The rover would then have to be driven to the desired
exploration spot and that could take days or more. Range Trigger tells the parachute
when to open so that Perseverance can land closer to the exact desired landing spot in
the landing area, shaving off as much as a year from the rover�s final arrival at its
prime work site.This time, in addition to a full color camera, a microphone has been
added which allows engineers to better analyze entry, descent, and landing.NASA�s new Perseverance
Rover lands at Jezero Crater. Jezero Crater formed billions of years ago and water filled
it to form a deep lake about the same size as Lake Tahoe. Jezero Crater formed when a
large object collided with Mars, excavating rocks from deep in the Martian crust, exposing
them in the rim. These rocks would have been hot shortly after the impact and may have
hosted hot springs. Deposits from these springs would be another target in our search for
possible ancient life on Mars. Although the rovers can analyze Martian samples while on
Mars, there are some things that scientists cannot do with a robot on Mars. This is another
exciting addition to Perseverance, something that has never been done before. A sample
collection and chaching system has been added to the rover�s capabilities. Perseverance
will collect at least 20 pencil-sized cores, drilled from Martian rocks, seal them in tubes,
and store them. NASA is confident that later missions will be able to retrieve those samples
and return them to Earth for analysis. One possibility is that a small rover can retrieve
the cached samples and a rocket can propel them into Mars orbit. They would then be transferred
to an orbiter that could return the samples to Earth.One of the coolest pieces of equipment
carried on the 2020 rover is the Mars Helicopter. The laws of physics say that it is nearly
impossible to fly a heavier than air vehicle on Mars with its thin atmosphere. Engineers
however, going on the theory that if a helicopter is light enough and the blades spin fast enough,
it should fly. The helicopter is a small autonomous rotorcraft. It weighs in at just under 4 pounds.
Its fuselage is about the size of a softball, and its twin, counter-rotating blades will
bite into the thin Martian atmosphere at almost 3,000 rpm �about 10 times the rate of a
helicopter here on Earth. The helicopter also contains built-in capabilities needed for
operation on Mars, including solar cells to charge its lithium-ion batteries, and a heating
mechanism to keep it warm through the cold Martian nights. It will get to Mars attached
to the belly pan of the Mars 2020 rover. Once the helicopter is on the planet�s surface,
a suitable location will be found to deploy the helicopter down from the vehicle and place
it onto the ground. The rover is then driven away from the helicopter to a safe distance
from which it will relay commands. After its batteries are charged, controllers on Earth
will command the Mars Helicopter to take its first autonomous flight into history. Since
Earth will be several light minutes away, there is no way to joystick the helicopter
from Earth so it will receive commands from the rover and then fly the mission on its
own. It will engage in a 30-day flight test including up to five flights of incrementally
farther flight distances. On its first flight, the �marscopter� will make a short vertical
climb to 10 feet where it will hover for about 30 seconds. The Mars helicopter is considered
a high-risk, high-reward project. If it does not work, the Mars 2020 mission won�t be
affected. But if it does work, helicopters may have a real future as low-flying scouts
and aerial vehicles to access locations not reachable by ground travel. Although NASA
has tried unsuccessfully before to send microphones to Mars, Perseverance will carry microphones
on both its landing package and its SuperCam instrument. The Super Cam mic will enable
scientists to hear the sounds of Mars and the landing microphone allows engineers to
analyze entry, descent, and landing and capture sounds of the rover at work. Similar to REMS
on Curiosity, MEDA is a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature,
wind speed, direction, pressure, and relative humidity, as well as dust size and shape.
Information collected by MEDA will help design shelters for astronauts living on Mars. Another
new instrument called RIMFAX is a ground penetrating radar operated from ground level that will
provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface. This
is the first time that Ground Penetrating Radar is used on the surface of Mars. Previous
GPR observations have been conducted from orbiters. Another brand new instrument called
MOXIE is totally different than any other instrument on past Rovers. It is aimed directly
at preparing for humans living on Mars. Scientists are hoping to demonstrate that we can change
CO2 into oxygen. MOXIE�s goal is to demonstrate that it can also make oxygen to fuel rockets
so that future Mars explorers can return home to Earth. Currently, a rocket capable of launching
a crew and its equipment into orbit from Mars would need to be propelled by about 7 metric
tons of methane and 27 metric tons of oxygen. Getting all that oxygen to Mars for the return
trip would require many launches from Earth just to get it there. Since Mars atmosphere
is primarily CO2 it is hoped that MOXIE could produce the required oxygen for the return
trip, eliminating the need to transport oxygen from Earth. The Mars Perseverance rover has
23 cameras, some new and some enhanced versions of the ones that are on Curiosity. 2 MASTCAM
� Z CAMERAS will determine mineralogy of the Martian surface and assist with rover
operations. PIXL will provide capabilities that permit more detailed detection and analysis
of chemical elements than ever before. SHERLOC will be able to determine whether organics
that the lander detects are native to Mars or whether those organics came from a meteorite
that bombarded Mars. SHERLOC is also critical for NASA�s study of space suits that will
be worn by astronauts on Mars. NASA is sending a piece of an astronaut�s helmet and four
kinds of spacesuit fabric aboard Perseverance. This is the first time that spacesuit material
has been sent to Mars and it will provide valuable information for protection of astronauts
visiting Mars. WATSON is one of the tools on the �arm� or turret at the end of the
robotic arm. It can take pictures of other arm-mounted instruments at work. For example,
it can be pointed at the oxygen-making experiment MOXIE to help monitor how much dust accumulates
around the inlet that lets in Martian air for the extraction of oxygen. SuperCam is
the next generation of the ChemCam instrument now operating on Curiosity. It is mounted
on the rover�s mast or �head�. It can identify which elements in the Martian dust
may be harmful to humans.
Like ChemCam, SuperCam will shoot a laser at rocks from about 20 feet away to vaporize
some of the rock and analyze the vapor. SuperCam uses a more powerful green laser to determine
if there are minerals that formed in the presence of liquid water. The new microphone mounted
on SuperCam will allow scientists to listen as the laser hits a target. The popping sound
it makes changes depending on the rock�s material properties. CachCam is also a brand
new camera that looks down at the top of the samples collected and cached. It takes pictures
of sampled materials and the sample tubes as they are being prepared for sealing and
caching. This keeps a record of the entire process for each sample collected so that
in the future when the means for returning these samples to Earth is developed, there
will be a complete record of their being obtained and sealed. �Up look� cameras can see
the parachute�s inflation and see the descent stage in operation as it lowers the rover
from the sky crane A Descent-stage camera views the rover from
above and a �down look� camera views the ground.
2 NAVCAM CAMERAS are mounted high on the rover�s mast. These help engineers drive the rover
around Mars. Mounted at the front and rear of the rover�s
body, pointing down toward the ground, are 2 front and 2 rear HAZCAMS which guide the
rover and help steer around hazards while driving across the Martian surface.
The enhanced engineering cameras all share the same camera body, but use different lenses
selected for each camera�s specific task. They will help in positioning the tools on
the robotic arm. They are located at various places on the
rover. As astronauts travel through the solar system, they will need to communicate quickly
with other spacecraft and with Earth. And, in emergencies, even hold video conferences.
NASA, looking ahead to human travel to Mars and the Solar System, is updating its Deep
Space Network and is developing a communication system to operate at higher radio frequencies
and at optical frequencies using laser communication systems. A new internet system is being developed
that will give each planet its own domain name, for example: www.alphabase.mars. The
new system will even compensate for the great time delay in communicating between bodies
in space, including the distance between Mars and Earth, which is 29 minutes one way when
Mars is closest to the Earth. As humans push further into the exploration of our solar
system and beyond, eventually we will take the next step beyond unmanned probes and take
the first human step onto Mars. Although humans have been exploring the science of the Red
Planet for some time, learning about its geology, chemistry, past life and its mysteries, we
are now ready to start planning on how humans will take that first step onto another planet
in our solar system. Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover not only continues unmanned science
exploration but now examines for the first time how humans themselves will land on, live
on, and explore the Red Planet. We will learn how to provide power for the explorers. We
will learn how to provide breathable oxygen and generate fuel for a return trip back to
Earth. We will learn how to provide food and drinking water allowing humans to stay on
the surface. The Perseverance Rover will give us the information we need to allow that first
human step on Mars.
1