The Perseverance Rover's First Month Discoveries and Future Plans

 

the perseverance rover is tasked with  carrying out what is perhaps  the most important task in human history  to seek out life on another alien planet  it's a pretty big deal after a month on  martian soil  what's been discovered so far welcome to  fact nominal  and we're going back to the red planet  what the perseverance rover discovered  in one month  since landing on mars after constant  media coverage for the last couple of  years we finally have confirmation  perseverance has touched down on mars  safely and is doing exactly what it  meant  to be doing it's perhaps a little  cynical but  you'd expect nothing less than 100  success  and a flawless operation from a  spacecraft with a price tag of 2.2  billion dollars now that doesn't mean  the mission has been without its tense  moments however  the 300 million mile journey from earth  to mars took a little over seven months  to complete  during this time any number of things  could have gone wrong  provision with space debris can be  catastrophic when you're careening  through space at twenty four thousand  six hundred miles per hour computers are  both reliable  and unreliable at the same time a full  system  shutdown and fail was a distinct  possibility after all  there's no one on board to turn it off  and on again  then there's also the slight chance of  the spacecraft being intercepted by an  alien race  unlikely sure but it was a possibility  thankfully e.t led perseverance continue  on its way the task at hand  the perseverance has come to mars to do  two things find signs of life and report  back home  we already know with a high degree of  certainty that there has been water on  mars  in the past and there's evidence it  still exists in great underground  reservoirs beneath the surface  the big question that needs to be  answered is whether the presence of that  water  was enough to give organic molecules  like amino acids the kickstart they need  to form rna and dna protein strands  the building blocks of genetics to quote  the very famous 90s movie about the  perils of bringing dinosaurs back from  extinction  life will find a way the little rover  will do its own analysis with a tool  belt filled with onboard equipment and  sensors  but also leave collected soil samples on  the red planet  in its wake as it makes its way along  the clay colloid surface  of the gizero crater a place we think  is an ancient river delta the rationale  is that if there's any fossilized  evidence of microbial life  it'll be the place where great rivers  used to meet to dump any material washed  away from elsewhere on mars  this is perhaps the most important  research in human history  the age-old question of are we alone  in the universe could be answered if we  do find  evidence of microbial life who's to say  that life couldn't exist in a more  advanced form elsewhere in our galaxy  or the universe hitting the ground  running  after completing its perilous journey  and harrowing seven minutes of terror  descent  through the thin martian atmosphere the  perseverance has touched down  and pretty much started getting to work  as soon as it arrived on mars  an image sent back to nasa shows just  how sketchy the descent down to the  planet  really was the photos were of the rover  itself approaching  parachute deployed retro rockets firing  dust being kicked up by the reverse  thrust just seven feet from the ground  first to be sent back to earth this  captured moment was inspirational and  exciting in the same way  that high-res images of distant parts of  the cosmos  are something new and never seen before  once on the ground the second image  showed a panoramic shot of the martian  landscape  as it stretches out towards distant  peaks and a blue tinged horizon  weirdly on mars the sky appears bright  red when it's far away from the sun  as it's less than one percent the  density of earth's  generally the thicker the atmosphere the  bluer the sky and the redder a sunset or  sunrise is  but here the disk of the sun itself  appears  white there is a slight blue hue  affecting the halo  of light around it during sunrise and  sunset  this has nothing to do with clouds  atmospheric gas or water  and everything to do with dust these  fine particles are just  on thousandth the thickest of a human  hair  and because they're smaller than the  wavelength of visible light  appear bright in the blue portion of the  spectrum while remaining invisible in  red light  the sky can appear more red or bluer  depending on how much  dust is thrown up into the atmosphere by  raging  storms on the surface the third initial  image was a close-up of the right wheel  of the rover and a more detailed look at  the rocks  soil and debris that covers the martian  surface  first things first the initial phase of  operations was just a whole heap of  calibration  the first 10 days involved firing some  pyrotechnic devices to release the  covers on the 23 on-board cameras  confirming its exact location on the  martian surface  and establishing the base systems  thermal power and communications  a problem with any of this trio  functions would prematurely end the  mission  the two-ton rover is powered by a  radioisotope thermoelectric generator in  short  heat from the decaying plutonium will  supplement collected solar energy with  the intention of greatly prolonging the  rover's lifespan  and preventing it from icing up from the  extremely low  nighttime temperatures so it was  important to get this system  up and running asap next up was testing  out the robotic arm  and initiate a very short movement test  to ensure  the six-wheeled drive train was in good  working order  the perseverance managed to record a  16-minute audio file  just how noisy its metal wheels are when  crunching over rocks and debris  sent it back to earth the ingenuity  over the next 11 to 60 days the two foot  high mars ingenuity  tucked underneath the perseverance belly  commenced test flights and would  technically be the first helicopter to  fly on an alien world  with four spinning rotors like a drone  the ingenuity flew  further and further away from the  stationary perseverance  and it still discovered its limitations  and capabilities in such a thin  atmosphere it's a vital prelude to  developing more robust aerial  reconnaissance drones for use of future  astronaut manned missions to mars  over the course of 30 days five  autonomous test flights will last up to  90 seconds each  flying low and short building up to  longer and longer distances away  the ingenuity can perform only one  attempt per day  before it needs to recharge  the mythology of geology also  during this 11 to 60 day period the  rover wasted no time in pulling up its  sleeves focusing on the geology phase of  the mission  right now it's taking happy snaps of the  surrounding rock formations as well as  close-ups of the rock and soil  that litters the surface of the red  planet it's been surveying nearby rocks  sending the findings of the chemical  analysis back to earth for nasa  scientists to study  interpret and draw findings from these  initial tests are still part of the  calibration process of the drill  close-up cameras and laser spectrometer  the initial images of the landing site  showed lighter colored rocks poking out  from a darker colored soil  spectral analysis from the onboard laser  spectrometer of two rocks dubbed  maz and yiko navajo indian for mars and  diligent  show that they're chemically similar to  basalt found on earth  a rock formed from molten lava the laser  zaps the rock and atomizes a minute  amount of material  that is then analyzed by the  spectrometer that data is then beamed  back to earth  where it's sorted quantified and  extrapolated  already the analysis shows signs of  water having been captured inside the  rock during its rapid cooling process  and solidification this points to the  fact that liquid water existed on mars  at a time when it had a hot molten core  essentially lava flow from a volcano  that met a water source  looking at the wind erosion on one of  the rocks show that the markings follow  a northwesterly pattern  on par with major wind pattern models  calculated  based on what we think our circulation  patterns on mars  the other rock appeared smoothened and  as though it were  shaped by tumbling along the bottom of  one of the rivers that fed the gizero  crater delta  this bolsters the current working theory  on which the entire mission was based  that the gizero crater was the collector  for a series of  ancient river systems what lies ahead  the main mission directive is focused  around the hunt for evidence of past  microbial life  by the 60 to 100 day period the prep  work on the dill bit close-up camera and  chemical sensor array will be complete  and it will be time to start getting  answers  the perseverance will have to travel on  its landing site near the outskirts of  the gizero crater  40 miles towards the interior of what  scientists think  was an ancient river delta the abundance  of clay colloids  and an uncanny resemblance to the nile  river delta here on earth  means it's the most likely place to  uncover fossilized remains  of ancient microbial martian life there  are various areas of interest along the  way  where sample tubes would be filled with  martian soil  and left on the surface for later  collection  the rimfax instrument a super advanced  ground penetrating radar  will begin its search for subterranean  deposits of liquid water  or ice the meda instrument will start  recording complex data  on martian weather patterns to establish  tolerances for future missions  the experimental moxie instrument in the  belly of the rover  will attempt to produce oxygen from the  carbon dioxide in the martian atmosphere  if we're ever going to get boots on mars  we need a surefire way to harvest oxygen  to keep our astronauts safe and healthy  think of it like a mechanical tree