Wednesday, January 6, 2021

2963 - MARS - 20 years of exploration.

 -  2963  -  MARS  -  20 years of exploration.  Over the past two decades, missions flown by 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. 


----------------------------- 2963 - MARS  -  20 years of exploration.   

-  These environments on Mars 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. 

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-  The mission will collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. 

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•------------------   Launch July 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

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•------------------    Land on Mars on February 18, 2021 at the site of an ancient river delta in a lake that once filled Jezero Crater

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•------------------    Spend at least one Mars year (two Earth years) exploring the landing site region


-  Perseverance will carry seven instruments to conduct unprecedented science and test new technology on the Red Planet. 

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•------------------    “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.  It will have technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars:

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•------------------    Explore a geologically diverse landing site

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•------------------    Assess ancient habitability

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•------------------    Seek signs of ancient life, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time

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•------------------    Gather rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by a future NASA mission

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•------------------    Demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration

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•------------------    “SuperCam“, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy at a distance. 

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•------------------    Planetary 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.

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•------------------    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. 

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-  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. 

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•------------------    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. 

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•------------------    Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer , a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape. 

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•------------------    The Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment , a ground-penetrating radar that will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface. 

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-  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.

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-   A new autonomous navigation system will allow the rover to drive faster in challenging terrain. As with Curiosity, Perseverance’s baseline power system is a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. It uses the heat from the natural decay of plutonium-238 to generate electricity.

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--------------------------------   Other reviews available upon request:

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-   2863  -  MARS  EXPLORATION -  visits made to the red planet.  NASA sent the Mars InSight to the Red Planet in 2018, and the spacecraft safely landed that November. As of early 2019, the lander was setting up its instruments to examine the interior of Mars.  The next tranche of ExoMars is the Rosalind Franklin rover and its companion lander, which are scheduled to leave Earth in 2020. 

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- 2787  -  MARS  -  Curiosity for 8 years.  The NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover celebrates eight (Earth) years on the Red Planet today (August 5, 2020), less than a week after its replacement the Perseverance rover took flight toward Mars. 

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-  2785  -  MARS  -  Jezero Crator exploration?  -  On July 30, 2020 NASA launched its most sophisticated and ambitious spacecraft to Mars in the search for signs of life beyond Earth.   The spacecraft is aptly named “Perseverance Rover“. 

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-  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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-  2776  -  MARS - 4th rock from the sun.   Mars is the forth rock from the Sun and is the easiest planet for us to get to.  Since 2007 we have 3 satellites orbiting Mars and 2 robots roving around the surface.  The robots take pictures and run tests on the soil sending the data up to the satellite overhead to be relayed back to Earth.  

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-  2772  -  MARS  -  several steps to Perseverance.  The Mars Perseverance rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the Red Planet. The Mars Perseverance mission addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars.  

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-  2760  -  MARS  -  Perseverance Rover in 2020 launch?  The mission is timed for a launch opportunity in July 2020 when Earth and Mars are in good positions relative to each other for landing on Mars. It takes less power to travel to Mars at this time, compared to other times when Earth and Mars are in different positions in their orbits.   

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-  2608  -  MARS  -  cosmic rays seen on Mars?   NASA is using the ‘InSight lander” to look for meteors on Mars.  From a glance at the images, the search seems straightforward.  But, the images show mostly ghosts, the invisible made visible and the visible drowned out amid the illusions.  Here is a summary of the data from sky watching on Mars.

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-  2276  -  Mars is our forth terrestrial planet from the Sun. See Review 2275 for the current information on the latest missions and what we learned.  This review is some of the earlier history and the math used to learn before our space ships could get there.

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-  2275  -  After 15 years, the mission of NASA's Opportunity rover has come to an end, but its successes on Mars have earned it a spot in the robot hall of fame.   The Mars Exploration Rovers mission featured two identical, golf-cart-sized, solar-powered rovers named Spirit and Opportunity. Spirit landed on Jan. 4, 2004. Opportunity landed on the opposite side of Mars on Jan. 24, 2004. 

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- 1905  -  Mars Explorations.  Over 40 missions have been sent to Mars.  20 were successful in studying the Red Planet.  This year the missions will get closer to the answer” “ Is there evidence of life on Mars? “

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- 1877  -  What can we earn from Oxygen?  Burn some in your brain and see if you can learn where oxygen came from.  Can we find some of this life giving oxygen on Mars?

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-  1860  -  Discoveries are coming fast in astronomy.  Space missions to Mars and Ceres collect enough data to keep astronomers working for decades.

January 6, 2021                   MARS  -  20 years of exploration.         2963                                                                                                                                                            

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