Perseverance on Mars: Relive the landing of the NASA rover
1h : It’s over
We should therefore have more detailed images over the weekend, and, fingers crossed, a high definition video of the descent to Mars on Monday. Thank you for spending this evening with us, good night everyone!
0h 48: The congratulations from Kamala Harris
Congrats to @ NASA and all of their partners on their successful mission. Today’s historic landing embodies our nation’s spirit of perseverance — building on past accomplishments and paving the way for future missions.
0h 36: A first image of the expected descent on Friday, and a video on Monday
Perseverance carried several GoPro-type cameras for the descent. From Monday, NASA could present, if all goes well, the first video in HD and with sound of the final descent to Mars (we had a video of Curiosity, but without sound and with limited resolution and bevels).
“The first video product … we’re going to try to bring that to a press conference on Monday. And I think that’s really going to be something to see. ” – @ NASAJPL ‘s Matt Wallace describes some of the video, images , & sounds captured by @ NASAPersevere from today’s # CountdownToMars . pic.twitter.com/ecS5mtgKt0
0h 27: Perseverance parked in what was arguably the old river delta
NASA chose Jezero crater, in an argillaceous area that was, according to scientists, the former delta of a river when water flowed on Mars more than 3 billion ago years.
0h 19: We will have a video of the descent in the next few days
Lori Glaze, director of the planetary science division at NASA, explains that Perseverance is on board in total 22 cameras, 7 of which were working during the descent. We had already seen a sacred video of Curiosity, but that of Persia
In total, there are 23 cameras on Perseverance including 7 which worked during the descent. For the first time, we will see (in the coming days) the moment when the parachute deployed with a camera pointed upwards #Perseverance pic.twitter.com/ykhKZchI3u
0h 05: “Congratution, man”, congratulations from Joe Biden
Steve Jurczyk, Acting Director of NASA, says he had Joe Biden on the phone saying “Congratulation, man”, in his signature “folksy” style (he puts “man” everywhere).
We’re going to put that down to the time difference with Mars …
22 h 19: H – 05 min before the Nasa press conference
The team should get back to the landing and then talk about the mission that awaits Perseverance. We may see better quality and color images.
21 h 48: The Eiffel Tower encourages Perseverance
To salute the successful landing of the NASA rover, the Eiffel Tower dedicated its evening twinkle to Perseverance. So we may not have a Martian robot, but we have the Eiffel Tower!
20 h 27: We’re there soon, little recap ‘of descent stages
In seven minutes, Perseverance should go from a speed of 20. 000 km / h to zero. Confirmation of landing will take place at 19 h 54, Paris time.
– Entering the atmosphere
Around 130 km altitude, it enters the atmosphere at a speed of 19. 000 km / h, causing friction causing the temperature to rise up to 1. 300 ° C. The heat shield protects the rover from this infernal heat.
– The opening of the parachute
But the atmosphere is not enough to slow down the ship enough, which still goes to 1. 450 km / h. At about 11 km of altitude, at an opportune moment calculated according to the remaining distance to the landing place, a huge parachute slows the ship down to about 300 km / h.
– Release of the heat shield
The rover he was protecting is exposed for the first time to the Martian atmosphere.
– The retro-propelled phase
At about 2km altitude, the rear shield – and its parachute – are dropped . The rover is no longer attached to the descent stage, equipped with eight motors pointed downwards, which light up to finish slowing it down.
– The separation of the rover
Around 20 m from the ground, the rover then descends along the cables using a pulley system, during a final fifteen seconds (step called “skycrane”).
The vehicle deploys its wheels. The skycrane must crash further away.
20 h 24 : AT 21 minutes of start of the landing maneuvers, the tension rises in the NASA control center
20 h 12: Why was Jezero crater chosen as a landing zone by Nasa?
In place of this crater, 3.5 billion years ago, there was a deep lake of about 50 km wide and a delta formed by a river flowing into it. On Earth, this kind of place contains traces of life, like Lake Salda in Turkey, why not on Mars?
Negative point: the Jezero crater has a strong relief, which makes it the most dangerous site ever attempted. Not ideal for landing. But scientists have provided tools to respond to this constraint.
20 h 01: The living room as a control room
In the midst of the Covid epidemic – 18, the few 300 members of the team who will lead this mission will work under exceptional conditions, a racon ty Ken Farley, Project Scientist. “The mission will be carried out from the people’s lounge, all over the world.”
19 h 53: The Perseverance parachute is the biggest ever manufactured
This was necessary to slow down Perseverance, which will go from 20. 000 km / h at 2, 5 km / h in a few minutes of descent.
# CapSurMars Did you know that the parachute which will accompany @ NASAPersevere when it crossed the atmosphere is the largest ever made?
19 h 47: A mission to prepare the ‘arrival of humans on Mars
We are still far from it, but one day men and women will try the trip to Mars. In the meantime, Perseverance’s mission will help make this future possible. How? ‘Or’ What ? In several ways. The samples collected on the planet Mars by Perseverance will have to be sent back to Earth, by means of a rocket. A feat that has never yet been achieved on Mars. Launch a rocket
could be a first step towards manned flight .
Another objective of Perseverance: to take off a helicopter on Mars, in conditions radically different from those on Earth, and to create oxygen from the atmosphere Martian. This oxygen could be used by future human settlers to breathe, but also as fuel.
19 h 40 : But to fact, what is the purpose of the expedition?
Have we always been alone in the universe? It is to this question that the N asa would like to respond by sending Perseverance to the planet Mars.
Scientists are looking for what they call biosignatures: traces of microbial life that “can take all kinds of forms “, For example” chemical “or” modifications of the environment “, explained to AFP Mary Voytek, director of the astrobiology program for NASA. “We astrobiologists have dreamed of this mission for decades,” she said enthusiastically. The rover will collect rock samples, and then send them back to Earth at the end of a subsequent mission.
19 h 27: How much does the Covid mark this period?
At point d ” hang a plaque in tribute to caregivers on Perseverance. We told you about it in this article.
19 h 25: The SuperCam, an ultra-sophisticated Franco-American tool that will study Martian rocks, with its laser beam and a microphone
While we’re at it, we’ll give you a little rundown on this ultra-sophisticated tool, partly made in France. Located at the top of the rover’s mast, the SuperCam weighs five kilos and the size of a shoebox.
Its head is equipped with a laser: when it is directed at a rock, the analysis of the light emitted will make it possible to determine its composition, and to orient the scientists in such or such direction, more interesting than the others. The SuperCam also has a microphone, “a first on Mars”, which will provide information on the hardness of the rock, thanks to the analysis of the “click” made by the laser shot when hitting it. A few months ago, Hélène Ménal had drawn up the portrait of the SuperCam and its magical powers. It is at read here!
19 h 15 : Did you know ? In the American rover, there is a great camera made in Toulouse
Upon landing of the rover, engineers and scientists will be at the controls of the SuperCam, alternating with the United States. Watch how they prepared to live for three months at the Martian rhythm, with this report from our journalist Béatrice Colin.
19 h 05: What is the precise time of the time of entry of Perseverance into the Martian atmosphere?
The rover will enter the atmosphere at 21 h 36 Paris time, but we will know it at 20 h 47, exactly 10 minutes and 22 seconds later, incompressible duration of the transmission delay between Mars and Earth.
19 h 05: Proof of a French craze, Emmanuel Macron is attending the landing tonight at the Paris headquarters of the National Studies Center space
18 h 55: We will live together a descent strewn with pitfalls
Seven minutes … This is the time it takes for the rover to enter the Martian atmosphere, descend and land on the ground. Fabrice Pouliquen makes you experience these “seven minutes of terror” that the rover (and the engineers who participated in the project) will experience
in this article .
Hello everyone and welcome to this live. Tonight, we will follow the “seven minutes of terror” of the landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars, which is only a stone’s throw from the red planet. At the time this post is published, we are a little less than H-2 before landing, the tension is rising and we will live it together. Let’s go !