- 2783 - MARS - launch of Perseverance mission. - NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission is on its way to the Red Planet to search for signs of ancient life and collect samples to send back to Earth. Humanity's most sophisticated rover launched July, 2020.
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-------------------------- 2783 - MARS - launch of Perseverance mission
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- Perseverance will begin another historic mission of exploration of the 4th planet from the Sun. This amazing explorer's journey will deliver incredible science and will bring samples of Mars home to mother Earth, the 3rd planet from the Sun.
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- The Atlas rocket initially placed the Mars 2020 spacecraft into a parking orbit around Earth. The engine fired for a second time and the spacecraft separated as expected. Navigation data indicate the spacecraft is perfectly on course to Mars.
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- Mars 2020 sent its first signal to ground controllers. However, telemetry spacecraft data had not yet been acquired at that point. Later a signal with telemetry was received from Mars 2020 by NASA ground stations. Data indicate the spacecraft had entered a state known as safe mode, likely because a part of the spacecraft was a little colder than expected while Mars 2020 was in Earth's shadow. All temperatures are now nominal when the spacecraft was out of Earth's shadow.
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- When a spacecraft enters safe mode, all but essential systems are turned off until it receives new commands from mission control. An interplanetary launch is fast-paced and dynamic, so a spacecraft is designed to put itself in safe mode if its onboard computer perceives conditions are not within its preset parameters.
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- Today the Mars 2020 mission is completing a full health assessment on the spacecraft and is working to return the spacecraft to a nominal configuration for its journey to Mars.
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- The Perseverance rover's astrobiology mission is to seek out signs of past microscopic life on Mars, explore the diverse geology of its landing site and demonstrate key technologies that will help us prepare for future robotic and human exploration.
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- The “Jezero Crater” is the perfect place to search for signs of ancient life. Perseverance is going to land there to make discoveries that cause us to rethink our questions about what Mars was like and how we understand it today.
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- As Perseverance’s instruments investigate rocks along an ancient lake bottom and select samples to return to Earth, science well be reaching back in time to get the information they need to say if life has existed elsewhere in the universe.
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- The Martian rock and dust that Perseverance's Sample Caching System collects could answer these fundamental questions about the potential for life to exist beyond Earth. Two future missions will work together to get the samples to an orbiter for return to Earth. When these samples arrive on Earth, they will undergo in-depth analysis by scientists around the world using equipment far too large to send to the Red Planet.
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- While most of Perseverance's seven instruments are geared toward learning more about the planet's geology and astrobiology, the MOXIE , the Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, has the job to focus on missions yet to come.
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- Designed to demonstrate that converting Martian carbon dioxide into oxygen is possible, it could lead to future versions of MOXIE technology that become staples on Mars missions, providing oxygen for rocket fuel and breathable air.
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- Also future-leaning will come from the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. Ingenuity will remain attached to the belly of Perseverance for the flight to Mars and the first 60 days on the surface. A technology demonstrator, Ingenuity's goal is a pure flight test since it carries no science instruments.
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- Over 30 sols (31 Earth days), the helicopter will attempt up to five powered, controlled flights. The data acquired during these flight tests will help the next generation of Mars helicopters provide an aerial dimension to Mars explorations, potentially scouting for rovers and human crews, transporting small payloads, or investigating difficult-to-reach destinations.
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- The rover's technologies for entry, descent, and landing also will provide information to advance future human missions to Mars. Perseverance is the most capable rover in history because it is standing on the shoulders of our pioneers Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity rovers. The descendants of Ingenuity and MOXIE will become valuable tools for future explorers to the Red Planet and beyond.
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- About seven cold, dark, unforgiving months of interplanetary space travel lay ahead for the mission. There is still a lot of road between us and Mars, about 290 million miles of space before arriving at Mars on February 18, 2021.
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- The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of America's larger Moon to Mars exploration approach that includes more missions to the Moon as a way to prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
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- NASA plans on sending the first woman and next man to the Moon by 2024. They will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028.
- My kids will have to write that review.
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- July 31, 2020 2783
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--------------------- Friday, July 31, 2020 -------------------------
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