Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff.
Speaker 1: Lauren Bogelbaum here. On July, an Atlas rocket lifted off
Speaker 1: from Florida's Cape Canaveral, carrying the Mars mission and its
Speaker 1: Perseverance rover on an approximately five month journey to the
Speaker 1: Red Planet. After the rover lands and the Jezero Crater
Speaker 1: on February one, the robotic vehicle will roam the crater,
Speaker 1: extracting chalk sized pieces of Martian rock that eventually could
Speaker 1: reveal whether life once existed on the Solar System's fourth
Speaker 1: planet from the Sun. Perseverance weighs two thousand, two hundred
Speaker 1: and sixty pounds that's one thousand and twenty five kilos
Speaker 1: and measures about ten ft or three meters long, and
Speaker 1: it's the latest in a succession of Mars rovers that
Speaker 1: has included Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity. Since Curiosity arrived on
Speaker 1: the Martian surface in August, it's traveled over fourteen miles
Speaker 1: almost twenty three kilometers, and in twenty nineteen found evidence
Speaker 1: of an ancient oasis on the seemingly arid planets Gale Crater.
Speaker 1: NASA plans for Perseverance to operate for at least one
Speaker 1: Martian year that's six eighty seven Earth days, and cover
Speaker 1: a distance of between three and twelve miles or five
Speaker 1: and twenty kilometers Perseverance's most attention getting scientific goal is
Speaker 1: to search for evidence of ancient microbial life on Mars,
Speaker 1: but as two NASA scientists explain, the mission is much
Speaker 1: more complex. We spoke via email jointly with Michael Mayer,
Speaker 1: lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program, and Mitch Schultz,
Speaker 1: a Mars Program scientist. They said, the most significant aspect
Speaker 1: of this mission is that the mission represents the evolution
Speaker 1: of studying Mars, follow the water, understand a bit ability,
Speaker 1: and now search for the signs of ancient life. However,
Speaker 1: we don't know what we will find until we get there,
Speaker 1: and that will be the most significant Among the mission
Speaker 1: goals are to understand the geologic environment of the landing
Speaker 1: site and search for biosignatures, and the rover is ably
Speaker 1: equipped to either find or at least identify the most
Speaker 1: promising samples that might have preserved biosignatures, and the extremely
Speaker 1: promising part cash them to be brought back to Earth
Speaker 1: to be examined by the best instruments in the world.
Speaker 1: NASA had to complete preparations for the launch in the
Speaker 1: middle of the COVID nineteen pandemic. The situation required the
Speaker 1: project team to limit the number of personnel working together
Speaker 1: at any one time at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
Speaker 1: and workers had to practice social distancing, wear protective equipment,
Speaker 1: and use hand sanitizer and other cleaning supplies. But on
Speaker 1: these science end, NASA workers were more concerned about maintaining
Speaker 1: the cleanliness of the planetary Probe sampling and cashing system,
Speaker 1: which will handle Martian soil and rock samples. Mayor and
Speaker 1: Shoot explain the contamination control levels are unprecedented for any
Speaker 1: spacecraft and unachievable in most laboratories on Earth. To build
Speaker 1: a sampling system to such ultra clean standards and keep
Speaker 1: the system clean has been a real achievement. Of course,
Speaker 1: the proof of the pudding will be when the samples
Speaker 1: are returned to Earth. Technically, the Rover is the most
Speaker 1: complex spacecraft sent to Mars, and designing and building the
Speaker 1: sample caching system was a substantial challenge. The only challenge
Speaker 1: posed by the pandemic has been keeping the team assembling
Speaker 1: the spacecraft and launch vehicles safe, which has been successful.
Speaker 1: Jesero Crater was chosen as a landing site because it's
Speaker 1: an area that researchers believe is likely to harbor evidence
Speaker 1: of ancient microscopic organisms. Mayor and Schultz wrote, our orbital
Speaker 1: studies show that Jesero Crater was an ancient crater lake
Speaker 1: with a recognizable delta deposit, indicative of water flowing into
Speaker 1: a standing body of water. Life as we know it
Speaker 1: requires a liquid water environment to exist. In addition, a
Speaker 1: critical aspect is that the same site shows a high
Speaker 1: die versity of environments, a great place to sample multiple
Speaker 1: rock types that can tell us about the climate and
Speaker 1: geological history of the crater and the planet on Earth.
Speaker 1: Delta is one type of deposit you would expect to
Speaker 1: have signs of life preserved. Furthermore, there are other tantalizing
Speaker 1: mineral deposits, like the purported lake shore has carbonate rocks,
Speaker 1: also a good place to have preserved evidence of life
Speaker 1: if there was any. Well perseverances instruments will gather some
Speaker 1: data about the area from which these Martian soil and
Speaker 1: rock samples are gathered. The samples themselves eventually will be
Speaker 1: retrieved by a future mission and transported back to Earth
Speaker 1: for more extensive analysis. The two NASA scientists explained that
Speaker 1: while the retrieval details are still being worked out quote,
Speaker 1: the general plan is that in NASA and the European
Speaker 1: Space Agency will launch two missions. One a lander that
Speaker 1: will carry a fetch rover to get the samples and
Speaker 1: a rocket for lifting the samples off the red planet.
Speaker 1: The other mission will be an bitter for capturing the
Speaker 1: sample container launched from the surface of Mars and then
Speaker 1: bringing the contained samples to Earth. Of course, we will
Speaker 1: know a fair amount about the samples and the area
Speaker 1: of Jesero Crater from which they come because of the
Speaker 1: science instruments on board the rover, Perseverance is well equipped
Speaker 1: to explore the region to understand the present and ancient environment.
Speaker 1: The details of each side explored and specifically each rock
Speaker 1: are regular from which the sample will have been collected.
Speaker 1: We're likely to see some spectacular pictures of the Martian
Speaker 1: surface too, since the rover is equipped with more and
Speaker 1: better cameras twenty three and all than any previous Mars mission,
Speaker 1: and the Perseverance mission will provide an opportunity for the
Speaker 1: first test of the Ingenuity robotic helicopter, which could be
Speaker 1: an important part of future planetary exploration. The scientists said
Speaker 1: the helicopter is a technology demonstration, and as such, the
Speaker 1: flights are designed to test its capabilities. The potential of
Speaker 1: Ingenuity to contribute to the science of the mission is there,
Speaker 1: but will be incidental to the data being collected for
Speaker 1: assessing the helicopter's performance. Today's episode was written by Patrick J.
Speaker 1: Keiger and produced by Tyler Clang. For more on this
Speaker 1: and lots of other persevering topics, visit how stuff works
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