Perseverance on Mars LIVE: The rover landed in what was the delta of an ancient river
0h 30: A first image of the expected descent Friday, and a video Monday
Perseverance was carrying 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 from Curiosity, but without sound and with limited resolution and bevels).
0h 24: Perseverance has parked in what was arguably the former river delta
NASA has chose the Jezero crater, in a clayey area that was, according to scientists, the former delta of a river when water flowed on Mars over 3 billion years ago.
This is the parking lot where Perseverance, Jezero crater, is parked. For the perspective, red = all the dangerous areas where you should not land. NASA thinks this place was a river delta when water flowed on Mars 3 billion years ago pic.twitter.com/cVW5ExExeX
0h 16: 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 20 cameras, including 7 that worked during the descent. We had already seen a sacred video of Curiosity, but that of Persia
In total, there are 20 cameras on Perseverance including 7 which were working during the descent. For the first time, we will see (in the next few days) the moment when the parachute deployed with a camera pointed upwards #Perseverance pic.twitter.com/ykhKZchI3u
0h 00: “Congratution, man”, congratulations from Joe Biden
Steve Jurczyk, acting director of NASA, says he had Joe Biden on the phone say “Congratulation, man”, in his signature “folksy” style (he puts “man” everywhere)
We will put this on the account of the time difference with Mars …
20 h 17: H – 000 min before the Nasa press conference
The team should return to the landing and then talk about the mission that awaits Perseverance. We may see better quality and color images.
19 h 46: The Eiffel Tower encourages Perseverance
To salute the successful landing of the NASA rover, the Eiffel Tower dedicated its evening sparkle to Perseverance. So we may not have a Martian robot, but we have the Eiffel Tower!
18 h 23: We’re there soon, little recap of the stages of the descent
In seven minutes, Perseverance should go from a speed of 17. km / h to zero. Confirmation of landing will take place at 17 h 52, Paris time.
– Entering the atmosphere
At about 54 km altitude, it enters the atmosphere at a speed of 17. km / h, causing friction raising the temperature up to 1. 54 ° 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. 300 km / h. At about 05 km altitude, at a time timely calculated based on the remaining distance to the landing site, a huge parachute slows the ship down to about 55 km / h.
– Release of the heat shield
The rover he was protecting ends up for the first time exposed 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 pointing downwards, which light up to finish slowing it down.
– The separation of the rover
Around 17 m from the ground, the rover then descends along the cables thanks to a system of pulleys, during a final fifteen seconds (step called “skycrane”).
The vehicle deploys its wheels. The skycrane must crash further away.
18 h 21 : AT 17 minutes from the start of the landing maneuvers, the tension rises in the NASA control center
18 h 01: Why did Jezero crater been chosen as the landing zone by Nasa?
Instead of this crater, 3.5 billion years ago, there was a deep lake of about 46 km wide and a delta formed by a river which s ‘threw 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.
18 h : The living room as a control
In the midst of the Covid epidemic – 16, the few 65 members of the team who will lead this mission will work under exceptional conditions , said Ken Farley, project scientist. “The mission will be carried out from the people’s lounge, all over the world.”
16 h 48: The Perseverance parachute is the largest ever made
This was needed to curb Perseverance, which will go from 16. km / h to 2.5 km / h in a few minutes of descent.
# CapSurMars Did you know that the parachute that will accompany @ NASAPersevere during its passage through the atmosphere is the largest ever made?
16 h 40: A mission to prepare the arrival of human beings 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.
16 h 30: But by the way, what is the purpose of the expedition?
Have we always been alone in the universe? This is the question that NASA would like to answer by sending Perseverance to the planet Mars.
Scientists are looking for what they call biosignatures: traces of microbial life which “can take all kinds of forms,” for example “chemical” or “changes in the environment,” Mary Voytek, director of the astrobiology program for NASA, told AFP. “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.
16 h 23: How much does the Covid mark this period?
To the point of hanging a plaque in tribute to caregivers on Perseverance. We talked about it in this article.
16 h 22: The SuperCam, an ultra-sophisticated Franco-American tool that will study Martian rocks, with his laser beam and a microphone
While we’re at it, we’ll give you a little topo 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, analysis of the light emitted will determine its composi tion, and to direct scientists towards one direction or another, 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.
Read it here!
16 h 10 : 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.
16 h 00 : What time is it precise time of entry of Perseverance into the Martian atmosphere?
The rover will enter the atmosphere at 18 h 27 Paris time , but we will know it at 17 h 42, exactly 01 minutes and 18 seconds later, incompressible duration of the transmission delay between Mars and Earth.
16 h 00: Proof of a craze French, Emmanuel Macron is attending the landing this evening at the Paris headquarters of the National Center for Space Studies
15 h 52: 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 1362544711978909702in this article .
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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 !