Get ready for the landing of Perseverance !

[Airbrush]

On Feb 18 it will land...hopefully.  This one looks like Curiosity but with more tricks.  It will test a chopper and try extracting O directly from the thin atmosphere.  I always thought they had to find water ice to make oxygen.  It will leave behind core samples for someone to pick up in a later mission.

(1) NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover Landing Animations - YouTube

Here are some more details.

(1) Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover - What's Different This Time? A Narrated Explanation. - YouTube

Does anyone know why when I copy and paste Youtubes all I get are words and no graphic?  Everybody else gets a nice colorful graphic.

It is powered by nuclear decay:

(1) Prepping the Perseverance Power Source - YouTube

Edited February 11, 2021 by Airbrush

[Col Not Colin]

Hi.

51 minutes ago, Airbrush said:

Does anyone know why when I copy and paste Youtubes all I get are words and no graphic?  Everybody else gets a nice colorful graphic.

Will this do?  But it can be annoying anyway.  Maybe best to leave it as a static link in text.

 

I have limited ability to explain how you make it work, I just right-click on the embedded object and fiddle with settings and stuff until the post looks ok.

 

[Phi for All]

Perseverance joins both the UAE's Hope orbiter and China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft. Rather than separate threads, I'm hoping we can talk about the individual missions as well as this historical opportunity for multiple programs to work cooperatively a looooong way from home.

[Airbrush]

16 minutes ago, Phi for All said:

Perseverance joins both the UAE's Hope orbiter and China's Tianwen-1 spacecraft. Rather than separate threads, I'm hoping we can talk about the individual missions as well as this historical opportunity for multiple programs to work cooperatively a looooong way from home.

Sorry I had forgotten about the other 2 probes.  The planets are aligned so now is the time for anyone to visit Mars. 

Have you heard of any plans for NASA, China, or UAE to cooperate during their missions?

Edited February 11, 2021 by Airbrush

[Phi for All]

1 minute ago, Airbrush said:

Have you heard of any plans to cooperate during this mission?

Not sure there's any need, since they all have completely different objectives, but having so many vehicles in orbit has to give some advantage, even if it's just to check up on each other. The space policy folks are keeping a close eye out.

[Airbrush]

1 hour ago, Col Not Colin said:

I have limited ability to explain how you make it work, I just right-click on the embedded object and fiddle with settings and stuff until the post looks ok.

 

Thanks for your suggestion.  I appreciate it much.  Hey, it works!

 

THANK YOU COL NOT COLLINS!

Edited February 11, 2021 by Airbrush

[Airbrush]

What I heard recently about the Chinese mission to Mars is that the Chinese will be the first to have 3 things in one:  (1) an orbiter, (2) a lander, and (3) a rover.  Also the main focus of the Chinese mission is to look for CURRENT life on Mars.  The US mission will look for PAST life on Mars.  All 3 missions involve several different countries.  There was going to be 4 Mars missions at once.  Even Russia was working with the EU on a mission that hit a snag, so Russia postponed until the planets are aligned again in 26 months.

[Airbrush]

Today Perseverance should be landing on Mars at 3:55pm Eastern Time, or 12:55 Pacific Time.

[iNow]

T-minus 90 minutes

[beecee]

TUNED IN LATE BUT IT APPEARS TO HAVE BEEN A SUCCESS!😁

[iNow]

Hmm... It's still not yet arrived. Did you tune in through your wormhole or from the television in your tardis?

[beecee]

2 minutes ago, iNow said:

Hmm... It's still not yet arrived. Did you tune in through your wormhole or from the television in your tardis?

Ooops, I got my wires crossed! Heard something earlier but appears to still be in progress. 

[iNow]

Mine 90 minutes estimate was wrong. Believe we're 10-15 minutes away now

[beecee]

2 minutes to atmospheric entry!

[Col Not Colin]

No-one gave the website for live coverage.       https://www.nasa.gov/content/live-landing-of-the-mars-2020-perseverance-rover

 

[beecee]

Touchdown!! Congrats NASA

[zapatos]

Wow. That was much more exciting than I expected!

And on a side note, it was nice to see a room that was not dominated by white males. 😃

 

[Phi for All]

What a fantastic team of humans! Congratulations NASA!

[Area54]

51 minutes ago, zapatos said:

And on a side note, it was nice to see a room that was not dominated by white males.

While I agree wholeheartedly with that sentiment I could have done with fewer broad white smiles, most of which looked like "smiles for broadcast", not smiles from the heart. The genuine ones were visible, incidentally, above the masks, as joyful crinkles at the edges of the eyes.

[OdinSon2k11]

Interested...everything I've seen so far, from past landings, suggest a cold, barren, lifeless, solar wind swept landscape.

Perhaps the seas and lakes formulated JUST as Mars was exiting the "Goldilocks Zone". Therefore life was unable to get cooking like earth, as the planet went into deep freeze. 

Edited February 20, 2021 by OdinSon2k11

[zapatos]

6 minutes ago, OdinSon2k11 said:

Perhaps the seas and lakes formulated JUST as Mars was exiting the "Goldilocks Zone". Therefore life was unable to get cooking like earth, as the planet went into deep freeze. 

Sure that's a possibility. On the other hand perhaps the seas and lakes formed eons earlier and therefore life was on full boil.

8 minutes ago, OdinSon2k11 said:

Interested...everything I've seen so far, from past landings, suggest a cold, barren, lifeless, solar wind swept landscape.

 

That's why we are not looking for dogs and cats walking around.

[iNow]

Looks like they’re charging the helicopter module now and plan to launch it in the coming days... so long as the harsh cold and wind hasn’t disabled it 

[beecee]

Incredible video of landing from on=board cameras......................

https://phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-video-perseverance-rover-mars.html

The video clip, lasting three minutes and 25 seconds, showed the deployment of the parachute and the rover's touchdown on the surface of the Red Planet.

"These are really amazing videos," said Michael Watkins, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "This is the first time we've ever been able to capture an event like the landing on Mars."

phys.org/news/2021-02-nasa-video-perseverance-rover-mars.html

[OdinSon2k11]

Does it have the ability to overturn some of those rocks? Not the meteor rocks, the native ones? To see what under it? Most critters are found that way 🙂

Edited February 23, 2021 by OdinSon2k11

[iNow]

9 hours ago, OdinSon2k11 said:

Does it have the ability to overturn some of those rocks?

Yes