The summer of Mars launches continued yesterday as NASA successfully sent its Mars 2020 on a seven-month journey to the red planet. Taking off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 7:50 a.m. local time, the probe is the third mission sent to Mars in just 10 days following China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter and rover as well as the United Arab Emirates’ Hope orbiter. All three crafts, which will reach the red planet in February 2021, are the first in history to be going to Mars in such close proximity to each other. This is evidence of humanity’s progress and clearly shows that we are taking a step closer to space colonization everyday!
The Mars 2020 mission is set to land in a river delta within the Jezero Crater and it will aim to repeat the same thrilling entry, descent and landing as NASA’s Curiosity rover in 2012, which continues to roam the martian surface today. The main aspect of Mars 2020 is the Perseverance rover that will use seven instruments to explore Mars’ geology and climate and look for signs of past microbial life. The main goal of this project is thus to search for life… or aliens! (unfortunately, not the kind you’re thinking about).
Perseverance also contains a 1.8 kg helicopter – dubbed Ingenuity – that is set to demonstrate controlled flight on another planet for the first time. On Earth, the atmosphere helps keep helicopters and drones aloft but the Martian atmosphere is just 1% as dense as Earth’s. To help keep Ingenuity aloft, its two 1.2 m-long carbon-fibre blades spin at nearly 2500 revolutions per minute – around five times quicker than a helicopter on Earth. This could really be called a Wright brothers moment!
Ingenuity contains two cameras as well as several devices to measure altitude, movement and tilt angles. Once deployed, Ingenuity will sit on the martian surface and hopefully survive the frigid temperatures of a Mars night. Ingenuity’s main goal is for us to see new engineering technology on Mars. This will help the progression of future engineering projects, based on the success and risks it encounters!
The mission lays the groundwork for the next 10, 20, 50, 100 years of Mars exploration and is a giant step in the direction of Mars colonization. It’s only a matter of time.