WEBVTT - NASA's Amazing Perseverance 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.760 Welcome to text Tuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:14.840 Be there, and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.880 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:23.560 and I love all things tech. And on February twenty one, 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:30.360 the Perseverance rover from NASA touched down on Mars successfully. 0:00:30.920 --> 0:00:34.239 It was fantastic. If you didn't get to see the 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:37.920 video of all the people at NASA reacting to the 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:41.040 notification that in fact it had touched down safely, you 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:44.320 should watch that. It is joyous and so much fun. 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:48.720 And of course I immediately wanted to record an episode 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:54.240 about it, and then I learned as I started working 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.160 on that episode that I had actually already done an 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:00.640 episode about the Perseverance. I did it be for the 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:05.560 launch of the Perseverance back in July of twenty So 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:08.440 I thought I would rerun that episode to kind of 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:11.440 give you guys the rundown on the rover and the 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:15.200 technology aboard the rover, as well as some of the 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:19.240 parameters of the mission it will be pursuing. And then 0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.600 on Wednesday, I figure we will do a follow up 0:01:22.720 --> 0:01:25.880 and talk about some of the early stuff that we've 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:29.959 had a chance to see and hear from Mars thanks 0:01:30.000 --> 0:01:34.040 to the Perseverance Rover, and an update on on what 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.960 the mission status is and when we can expect some 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:41.160 of those other activities to take place, the big one 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:46.480 being the flight of Ingenuity that will be coming on Wednesday. 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:50.520 But first let's listen to this episode recorded back in 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:56.680 July of about Perseverance. Now, at the end of July 0:01:56.920 --> 0:02:01.840 twenty NASA plans to launch new rover on a journey 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:06.480 to Mars to continue the work of sojournal, Spirit, Opportunity, 0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:10.920 and Curiosity, all of which have really extended our knowledge 0:02:11.080 --> 0:02:15.280 of the Red planet. This new rover is called Perseverance, 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:19.280 and it really is something special. So today we're going 0:02:19.320 --> 0:02:22.040 to learn about the rover and its mission, and also 0:02:22.120 --> 0:02:27.080 a high risk, high reward experiment called Ingenuity that is 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.600 not technically part of Perseverance, but is going along for 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.360 the ride. However, before we do that, we've got a 0:02:34.400 --> 0:02:37.760 lot of other ground to cover, both here on Earth 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.920 and on Mars, and I want to talk a little 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:44.360 bit about why I chose this as a topic in 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:49.800 the first place. First is timing. Obviously, this episode should 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:52.400 come out a couple of weeks before the scheduled launch, 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:57.560 assuming everything goes well. And another reason is that these 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:02.520 missions often reinforce things that I find really inspiring and 0:03:02.600 --> 0:03:07.240 even hopeful. Transporting a spacecraft to Mars, let alone landing 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:11.000 something on that planet, and then using that something to 0:03:11.120 --> 0:03:17.200 explore and conduct scientific experiments. That's a monumental achievement. It 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:20.440 requires so much work, and it builds on more than 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.800 a century of discoveries and theories. It's a team effort 0:03:24.919 --> 0:03:29.359 in which hundreds of people pool their talent and expertise 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:32.280 to pull off what when you really look at it, 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.480 seems like it should be impossible. So while we have 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.560 tons of problems we need to address here on Earth, 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:44.119 from dealing with the pandemic to addressing real social inequalities 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.720 and more, I look at how people have managed to 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.280 build devices that explore another planet, and it strikes me 0:03:50.720 --> 0:03:54.360 that if we have the determination, we really can achieve 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:59.040 incredible things, we just need to apply that determination. Anyway, 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:03.000 here we go. As I record this, NASA has already 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.440 pushed back the launch a couple of times. So at 0:04:06.440 --> 0:04:10.000 the moment when I'm sitting at this microphone, the scheduled 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:14.600 launch date is for July. Now, if that date should 0:04:14.640 --> 0:04:18.760 slip for whatever reason, NASA will have a relatively narrow 0:04:18.800 --> 0:04:22.320 window to launch or else face the reality that they 0:04:22.360 --> 0:04:26.360 will have to shelve this project for more than two years. 0:04:26.440 --> 0:04:30.359 So why is that. Well, let's imagine the Solar system. 0:04:30.800 --> 0:04:35.039 Earth is the third planet out from the Sun, Mars 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.200 is the fourth planet out Earthen Mars revolve around the 0:04:39.240 --> 0:04:43.080 Sun at different speeds, which means sometimes the two planets 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:48.440 are moving closer together and sometimes they are moving further apart. 0:04:48.680 --> 0:04:53.160 In their respective orbits. Both planets have elliptical rather than 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.479 circular orbits around the Sun, which also means there's a 0:04:56.520 --> 0:05:00.880 point in the orbit where each respective planet is closest 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:04.160 to the Sun. This is called the parahelion. And there's 0:05:04.200 --> 0:05:07.640 also a point in the orbit where each respective planet 0:05:07.800 --> 0:05:11.400 is furthest from the Sun. This is the aphelian oh 0:05:11.480 --> 0:05:15.400 and also, both of these orbits are slightly tilted with 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.320 respect to one another, complicating things even more because they 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:24.200 don't lie in the same orbital plane. These three dimensional 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:28.120 realities are a real pain in the neck. All of 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:32.000 this means that when the planets do approach one another, 0:05:32.560 --> 0:05:35.920 they aren't in the same spots in their respective orbits 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:38.960 as they were the last time they got close to 0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.200 one another. The closest they've been to each other in 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:47.160 recorded history is about thirty three point nine million miles 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:51.880 apart or fifty four point six million kilometers, and at 0:05:51.920 --> 0:05:55.680 that distance, it would take light about three minutes to 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:59.360 travel from one planet to the other, and that's the 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:02.760 fastest often the universe. Remember, nothing goes faster than light. 0:06:03.680 --> 0:06:06.960 To even have that situation, you would need the Earth 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:11.119 to be at its aphelian where it's furthest from the Sun, 0:06:11.640 --> 0:06:15.000 and Mars would have to be at its parahelion, where 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.960 it is closest to the Sun, and both planets are 0:06:19.040 --> 0:06:22.760 on the same side of the Sun. And this does 0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:27.440 not happen frequently, at least not on human terms. That 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:31.640 thirty three point nine million mile distance happened back in 0:06:31.720 --> 0:06:35.640 two thousand three, and according to math, that was the 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:41.080 closest the two planets have been for fifty thousand years. Now, 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:44.200 generally speaking, you do get two spans of time when 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.280 the two planets are relatively close to each other. But 0:06:47.400 --> 0:06:50.400 because we're not just looking at orbital position, but the 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:55.000 shape of the orbits themselves, it's complicated, and those are 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.720 a lot of parameters that you have to have line up. 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:02.600 This scenario where Earth passes between Mars and the Sun 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:07.440 is called opposition, and we call it opposition because from 0:07:07.520 --> 0:07:11.560 our perspective here on Earth, Mars appears to be exactly 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:15.040 opposite where the Sun is. As the Sun is setting 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:18.760 at night, Mars is rising in the east, and when 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.600 Mars sets in the west during the morning hours, the 0:07:22.640 --> 0:07:27.120 sun is rising in the east. During opposition, Mars appears 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.040 as if it is a red star in the sky, 0:07:30.080 --> 0:07:34.240 nearly as bright as Venus is. If it happens when 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:40.000 Mars is closest to the Sun, we call it parahelick opposition. Moreover, 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:43.680 the distance will begin to grow after that point as 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:46.360 the planets begin to move apart from each other due 0:07:46.400 --> 0:07:50.560 to their different orbital velocities and elliptical orbits. So at 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:54.240 the extreme end, when the two planets are the furthest 0:07:54.320 --> 0:07:57.880 they can possibly be from each other on either side 0:07:58.120 --> 0:08:00.760 of the Sun. So the Sun is in tween Earth 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:05.240 and Mars, they are two hundred forty nine million miles apart, 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:09.960 or four hundred one million kilometers. At that distance, it 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:14.040 would take light a whopping twenty two minutes to travel 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:18.160 between Mars and Earth. Not that this really matters because 0:08:18.160 --> 0:08:20.040 you also have a big old Sun in the way, 0:08:20.080 --> 0:08:24.280 so you would actually have complications. This scenario is called 0:08:24.320 --> 0:08:28.440 a solar conjunction. Now here's the thing. Because of all 0:08:28.480 --> 0:08:31.360 the factors that I've described here, it takes a little 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.920 more than two years to go from one opposition or 0:08:36.080 --> 0:08:40.520 one conjunction to the next one. And actually it's about 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:45.440 twenty six months. So Earthen Mars will get the closest 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.600 they can possibly be in their respective orbits to one another, 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.480 and then it takes another twenty six months for it 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:55.120 to happen again. Halfway through those tway six months, you 0:08:55.120 --> 0:08:58.040 will get to the point where they are furthest from 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.959 each other and you get the conjunction. Now, why did 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:04.839 I spend so much time talking about that, Well, it's 0:09:04.840 --> 0:09:09.160 because NASA has to take all of this into account 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:13.120 when planning out emission to Mars. You want to minimize 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.880 the distance that your spacecraft has to travel in order 0:09:16.880 --> 0:09:21.800 to get to its destination. Space travel is tough, man. 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:25.480 I mean, it requires a lot of fuel, and fuel 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:30.000 has mass, and mass means that you need more mph 0:09:30.160 --> 0:09:33.480 to get out into space. So you can't just add 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:37.440 more fuel to a launch vehicle all willy nilly, because 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:42.160 just adding that fuel changes things. Moreover, you want to 0:09:42.240 --> 0:09:45.480 minimize all the things that can go wrong while traveling 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.600 from point Earth to point Mars. One good way to 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:51.800 do that is to reduce the amount of travel time, 0:09:52.080 --> 0:09:54.840 which means aiming for a time when the two planets 0:09:54.920 --> 0:09:59.040 are going to be closest. Moreover, you don't just launch 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.319 when Earth and Mars are close, because it takes about 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.120 a hundred fifty days or so for a space vehicle 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.960 to get from Earth to Mars under ideal conditions, and 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.760 these planets remain in motion that whole time. It's not 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.320 like they just stop. So if you aim your rocket 0:10:15.360 --> 0:10:18.720 to where Mars is now, Mars won't be there by 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:22.520 the time the rocket arrives at that location in space. 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:25.679 The best you can hope for is maybe a note 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.640 written by Mars that says something like sorry, I missed you, 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:33.480 and Mars is notoriously bad at writing notes, so instead 0:10:33.520 --> 0:10:36.600 you have to aim at where Mars will be rather 0:10:36.640 --> 0:10:40.280 than where Mars is. It's like leading a target. If 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.720 you were skeet shooting right a clay pigeon is shot 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.280 up into the air, you have to lead it a 0:10:45.280 --> 0:10:47.800 little bit if you want to hit it well. This year, 0:10:48.280 --> 0:10:51.520 Mars and Earth will actually be closest, not in July 0:10:52.120 --> 0:10:56.679 during the scheduled launch, but in October, specifically on October. 0:10:57.720 --> 0:11:00.200 That's when the two planets will be thirty eight point 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:05.240 six million miles apart or sixty two point one million kilometers. Again, 0:11:05.640 --> 0:11:08.040 not as close as they were back in two thousand three, 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.760 because they are not gonna be at the ideal points 0:11:11.840 --> 0:11:15.400 in their respective orbits to be absolutely the closest they 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:19.280 can be. The last day NASA can launch a space 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:23.120 vehicle and take advantage of all this would be August. 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:27.680 If conditions prevent NASA from launching by that date, will 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:32.040 probably be waiting around two years before we get another opportunity. 0:11:32.200 --> 0:11:34.800 This is also why if you look at the history 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:38.360 of missions to Mars, you'll see they hit pretty much 0:11:38.559 --> 0:11:42.120 every two years or so. This is also why when 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.640 we talk about potential human missions to Mars, we typically 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.360 talk about a long mission that would see astronauts stay 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:51.960 on Mars for a couple of years, because it would 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:55.000 be too challenging to land on Mars, you know, goof 0:11:55.080 --> 0:11:57.160 around for a week or so, and then try and 0:11:57.240 --> 0:12:00.920 launch back to Earth because the distance would be mounting 0:12:01.040 --> 0:12:04.440 between the two planets. We would need a mission where 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:07.800 we could spend an appreciable amount of time on Mars, 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:12.040 perhaps creating new rocket fuel on Mars itself. That way, 0:12:12.080 --> 0:12:15.320 we don't have to carry a return trips worth of 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:18.920 fuel on our way there. That would be kind of 0:12:19.000 --> 0:12:21.160 a deal breaker, because not only are you talking about 0:12:21.200 --> 0:12:24.440 an enormous amount of weight, which again adds to your 0:12:24.720 --> 0:12:27.840 concerns when you're launching the vehicle, it also represents a 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:33.120 massive hazard. You know, rocket fuel is dangerous stuff. But 0:12:33.400 --> 0:12:36.640 we'll get more into that when we talk about one 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:39.240 of the experiments that Perseverance is going to do on 0:12:39.320 --> 0:12:43.720 its mission. Interestingly, whether the launch vehicle takes off on 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.880 July or on August fifteenth, or any date in between, 0:12:48.360 --> 0:12:51.640 the estimated date when it will enter service, that is 0:12:51.760 --> 0:12:55.240 when it will land on Mars and establish communications from 0:12:55.440 --> 0:12:58.480 the surface of the red planet back here to Earth, 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.600 that data is the same. It's February twenty one. So 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:05.920 if the launch does go ahead as planned, and I 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.360 really hope it does, it's still going to be a 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:11.480 while before NASA can conclude whether or not the mission 0:13:11.960 --> 0:13:16.480 was a success or even just the initial part of 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:20.400 the mission is a success. Moreover All, this distance between 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:23.920 Earth and Mars means that any rover mission to Mars 0:13:23.920 --> 0:13:28.120 requires a lot of automation, a lot of autonomy. The 0:13:28.200 --> 0:13:32.200 distances here mean that at minimum, you're looking at around 0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:35.280 six minutes between when you can send a command to 0:13:35.320 --> 0:13:38.480 a rover on Mars and when you'll get a return signal. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.640 That's if Earthen Mars are as close as they can 0:13:41.720 --> 0:13:45.760 possibly be, and usually that's not even the case. We 0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:49.000 don't typically have that right. Most of the time. Earth 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.040 and Mars are pretty far away from each other. When 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:56.080 the Curiosity rover arrived on Mars on August six, two twelve, 0:13:56.520 --> 0:13:58.840 the distance between the two plants meant it took nearly 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:02.280 fourteen minutes to it signals from the rover. With that 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.400 sort of delay, it's impossible to manually control things, So 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.000 you have to create vehicles that can land and operate 0:14:10.120 --> 0:14:13.240 on their own. One way to do that is to 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:17.680 design parachutes that deploy once the spacecraft or ejected rover 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.640 reaches a certain altitude above Mars. But the Martian atmosphere 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:25.000 is really thin. That's going to be important later in 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:28.200 this episode two In fact, the atmospheric pressure at the 0:14:28.240 --> 0:14:31.920 surface of Mars is similar to what you would find 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.440 at thirty five kilometers of altitude here on Earth, so 0:14:37.640 --> 0:14:40.920 that's a lot thirty five thousand meters above the Earth. 0:14:41.040 --> 0:14:44.760 That air pressure is similar to the standard surface level 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:47.960 air pressure on Mars. To put it another way, we 0:14:48.040 --> 0:14:52.400 measure atmospheric pressure and units called milla bars. Here on Earth, 0:14:52.600 --> 0:14:56.720 the pressure at sea level is one thousand, thirteen millibars. 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:01.000 Mars is atmospheric pressure varies during the Martian year, but 0:15:01.080 --> 0:15:04.800 it averages out to be between six to seven millibars. 0:15:05.560 --> 0:15:10.320 That's it, So one thirteen here on Earth, six to seven, 0:15:10.640 --> 0:15:14.520 not thousand, just six to seven on Mars. Now, since 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:17.800 parachutes work by forcing air into a canopy and then 0:15:17.800 --> 0:15:22.640 effectively turning that canopy into a wing, you need atmosphere 0:15:22.680 --> 0:15:25.120 for it to work. A parachute would be useless on 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:29.000 Earth's Moon, for example, because there's not enough atmosphere to 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:32.440 turn the parachute into a wing. Mars has an atmosphere. 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:35.600 It's then, but it's there. However, it is so thin 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.880 that parachutes can typically only provide a little bit of 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:43.320 the breaking and support during the landing. Process. So NASA 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:45.680 has used a few different techniques to get rovers on 0:15:45.720 --> 0:15:49.120 the surface and not have them just break apart upon landing, 0:15:49.440 --> 0:15:54.520 including housing rovers in landing craft equipped with air bags. 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.960 The air bags could help cushion the impact on the landing. 0:15:57.960 --> 0:16:01.520 On Mars, the Curiosity roll or had a super awesome approach. 0:16:01.880 --> 0:16:05.960 The rover was inside a descent vehicle, which in turn 0:16:06.080 --> 0:16:09.880 was inside a larger uh structure. It was called the 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:14.160 Mars Science Laboratory or MSL, and the MSL had thrusters 0:16:14.160 --> 0:16:16.440 on it that could make fine tune adjustments during the 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:19.520 descent phase in order to maintain the right orientation. That 0:16:19.640 --> 0:16:22.560 also had a heat shield to absorb heat during you know, 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:28.120 entering the Martian atmosphere, and once it reached a certain altitude, 0:16:28.200 --> 0:16:32.280 it deployed a parachute which helped slow its descent, and 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:37.040 then a little bit lower in altitude, the MSL ejected 0:16:37.560 --> 0:16:41.000 a descent stage, so this was kind of a platform 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.080 with thrusters on it, and the rover was mounted inside 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:49.280 the platform and this would fire its thrusters, slowing its 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:54.720 descent further until it hovered above the Martian surface. Then 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:59.320 it lowered the Curiosity rover on a tether, turning the 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:02.280 descent v iCal into what they called a sky crane. 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:05.520 The idea was that the rover would touch down on Mars, 0:17:05.880 --> 0:17:09.359 it would sever the tether to the descent stage, and 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.440 then the rover would be ready to go to work. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:15.760 And here's the thing. This whole process from entering Mars's 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.359 atmosphere all the way to the point where the rover 0:17:18.480 --> 0:17:23.400 touched down would take about seven minutes. But you remember 0:17:23.600 --> 0:17:27.479 the delay. It was fourteen minutes of a communication delay, 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:30.639 So the whole process took about half the time it 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:33.600 takes communications to go from Mars to Earth at this 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.160 point in the two planets orbits. So the whole process 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.600 had to happen without human intervention. And not only that, 0:17:41.200 --> 0:17:44.160 a success would mean that the rover would actually be 0:17:44.440 --> 0:17:48.000 down on Mars for seven minutes before we even knew 0:17:48.040 --> 0:17:51.119 if it had worked. And it turns out it did work, 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:55.320 which truly is phenomenal. And I even did a special 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:58.720 podcast with Tom Merritt of Daily Tech News show Fame 0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:01.639 back when this happen in two thousand twelve. I remember 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.639 getting really emotional about this because when you consider the 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.320 innovation and inventiveness required to make something like this actually work. 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:13.320 It's really incredible. The Perseverance rover will follow in curiosities 0:18:14.560 --> 0:18:18.159 um tire tracks and and that it's going to use 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.480 a similar strategy for e d L that stands for 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:25.040 Intrigue Descent and Landing, So it's also going to use 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:28.520 the skycrane maneuver in order to land. And this time 0:18:28.640 --> 0:18:31.080 the descent vehicle will have a couple of new tricks 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:34.359 up its proverbial sleeve. For example, it will have a 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:39.120 set of tools called Terrain Relative Navigation or TRN, which 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.040 will scan the Martian terrain and allow the vehicle to 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.040 change its descent path in order to avoid any terrain 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:49.359 that looks particularly hazardous and that improves the chances of 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:52.800 a successful touchdown. And it's also going to have a microphone, 0:18:52.920 --> 0:18:54.679 so we'll get to hear what it sounds like to 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:58.240 land on Mars. Plus if the rover wants to bust 0:18:58.280 --> 0:19:00.800 out some David Bowie karaoke on the way down, that 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.240 microphone will come in awful handy. When we come back, 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:08.119 i'll talk more about the tools aboard the Perseverance, what 0:19:08.280 --> 0:19:10.240 they are meant to do, and a bit about how 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:21.760 they work. But first let's take a quick break Perseverance 0:19:22.080 --> 0:19:26.440 is about the same size as its predecessor, Curiosity, which 0:19:26.480 --> 0:19:29.359 means it's the size of a small car. It weighs 0:19:29.359 --> 0:19:33.639 a bit more than Curiosity as well, has a mass 0:19:33.680 --> 0:19:39.240 of one thous so here on Earth it weighs two thousand, 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:44.840 two hundred sixty pounds if we don't include the rover's arm. 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.600 The rover measures about ten ft long by nine ft 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.480 wide and it's seven ft tall. That's a three ms 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.960 by two point seven ms by two point two meters, 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.480 so it's a pretty big rover. Before we get into 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:03.320 the super per techie stuff and the goals of perseverance, 0:20:03.440 --> 0:20:07.119 let's look at some other related things. For example, the 0:20:07.240 --> 0:20:11.119 launch vehicle perseverance will depend upon the launch of an 0:20:11.160 --> 0:20:16.399 Atlas five one launch vehicle from the United Launch Alliance. 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:20.320 This is a two stage rocket essentially, and it stands 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:24.240 fifty eight meters or one ft tall when the payload 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:28.120 is attached to the top. Fully fueled. With the payload 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:32.080 in place, the full launch vehicle ways five d one 0:20:32.160 --> 0:20:36.960 thousand kilograms or one point one seven million pounds. The 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:40.720 five for one designation tells us a lot about the 0:20:40.800 --> 0:20:43.919 launch vehicle, as it turns out, so that five and 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.280 five four one refers to the diameter of the fairing 0:20:47.400 --> 0:20:50.520 that holds the payload in place with the launch vehicle. 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:53.320 So in this case, the spacecraft that will hold the 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:59.000 perseverance and this fairing is five meters in diameter. That's 0:20:59.000 --> 0:21:01.440 what that five means. So what's the four and five 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:03.760 or one mean? Well, that tells us how many solid 0:21:03.840 --> 0:21:07.680 fuel rocket boosters are part of this launch vehicle. So 0:21:07.840 --> 0:21:11.200 there are four solid fuel rocket boosters, and the one 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:15.160 tells us how many rocket engines are in the second stage. 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.840 This is called the centaur, and there are single engine 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:22.480 centaurs and dual engine centaurs, so this one is a 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:27.879 single engine centaur. The first stages rocket engine is called 0:21:27.880 --> 0:21:31.000 the r D one eight and this one was made 0:21:31.000 --> 0:21:34.840 in Russia. The engine burns a fuel made of kerosene 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.000 and liquid oxygen. The second stage centaur uses fuel made 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:42.640 of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which must be kept 0:21:42.640 --> 0:21:45.720 at very low temperatures to remain liquid, and for that 0:21:45.800 --> 0:21:50.800 reason they are called cryogenic propellants. So at launch, the 0:21:50.840 --> 0:21:53.960 boosters and rocket engine for the first stage will carry 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:57.520 the vehicle up to a certain altitude and that's where 0:21:57.520 --> 0:21:59.720 the first stage will separate from the rest of the 0:21:59.800 --> 0:22:02.359 val the first stage will fall back to Earth. The 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.760 second stage ignites and propels the spacecraft out to its 0:22:05.760 --> 0:22:08.880 trajectory to bring it on an intercept course with Mars, 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:11.840 and then it separates from the launch vehicle and then 0:22:11.920 --> 0:22:15.280 Perseverance aboard its spacecraft will be on its way on 0:22:15.280 --> 0:22:18.919 its very long trip out to Mars. So, assuming everything 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.919 goes as planned, Perseverance will touch down on Mars in 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:26.600 February twenty one thanks to the skycrane maneuver. If things 0:22:26.680 --> 0:22:30.200 don't go as planned, uh, I mean I don't know, 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:32.560 I mean if it if it doesn't launch by August fifteen, 0:22:32.640 --> 0:22:34.560 there's a real question of whether or not the project 0:22:34.640 --> 0:22:36.960 can be put on hold for two years. And if 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.879 something goes wrong, well, I guess you know, the mission 0:22:40.000 --> 0:22:43.040 scrapped and stuff can go wrong, because space, as it 0:22:43.080 --> 0:22:45.960 turns out, is super hard. I mean, like that thing 0:22:46.080 --> 0:22:49.640 is trying to kill you. But let's say it all 0:22:49.720 --> 0:22:52.479 goes to plan and the rover makes it to Mars. 0:22:52.880 --> 0:22:56.200 What is it going to do when it's there. Well, 0:22:56.280 --> 0:22:59.400 NASA says the mission will last at least one year 0:22:59.480 --> 0:23:03.399 on Mars. That is one Martian year. That's equal to 0:23:03.480 --> 0:23:07.680 six hundred eighty seven Earth days, so nearly two full 0:23:07.960 --> 0:23:12.000 Earth years. If the mission is a success, we may 0:23:12.040 --> 0:23:15.520 well see the experiments stretch on much longer than that. 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:20.520 The Opportunity mission was only intended to last for ninety days, 0:23:20.560 --> 0:23:24.800 but it was able to continue for nearly fifteen years. 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:27.320 But what is Perseverance going to do when it's up 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:31.080 there all that time. The overall program Perseverance as part 0:23:31.119 --> 0:23:34.679 of is called the Mars Exploration Program or m e P, 0:23:35.240 --> 0:23:37.800 and one of the primary goals of m e P 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:42.560 is to look for signs of life, most likely signs 0:23:42.560 --> 0:23:46.679 that life once existed on Mars thousands and thousands and 0:23:46.800 --> 0:23:49.960 millions of years ago. But boy, it really would be 0:23:50.000 --> 0:23:53.600 cool if we found evidence of microbial life on Mars today. 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.200 NASA has laid out four science objectives that Perseverance will 0:23:58.240 --> 0:24:01.119 pursue in an effort to further of this goal. The 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:05.800 four objectives are looking for habitability, that is, seeking out 0:24:05.840 --> 0:24:10.280 areas that could have supported microbial life in the ancient past, 0:24:11.119 --> 0:24:15.120 seeking bio signatures, so looking for evidence that microbial life 0:24:15.160 --> 0:24:19.159 actually did exist in these habitable environments, such as in 0:24:19.359 --> 0:24:23.520 signs and the rocks themselves cashing samples. This is all 0:24:23.520 --> 0:24:28.359 about collecting and analyzing rock and soil samples and preparing 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:31.360 for humans which will take on the super cool challenge 0:24:31.359 --> 0:24:35.000 of producing oxygen on Mars. Now we'll dive into these 0:24:35.040 --> 0:24:37.880 more in a moment, but in addition to the four 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:43.040 primary objectives, Perseverance will also study the seasons on Mars 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:47.080 and how weather patterns change, including stuff like dust storms. 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:50.640 It will be building on our understanding of Mars, which 0:24:50.640 --> 0:24:53.840 will be critical if we ever do actually want to 0:24:53.920 --> 0:24:57.959 send astronauts there or columnists. So a lot of what 0:24:58.080 --> 0:25:00.679 Perseverance will be doing sets the st age for future 0:25:00.680 --> 0:25:04.200 missions with actual humans on Mars. NASA is going about 0:25:04.240 --> 0:25:07.880 this in a very methodical way. And I say that 0:25:08.040 --> 0:25:10.240 because I'm sure at least some of you remember the 0:25:10.320 --> 0:25:15.359 private organization called Mars One that had the stated goal 0:25:15.480 --> 0:25:19.360 of establishing a permanent colony on Mars. The Mars One 0:25:19.440 --> 0:25:23.520 plan was to create habitats on the planet, or technically 0:25:23.840 --> 0:25:27.359 under the surface of the planet, because Mars doesn't have 0:25:27.440 --> 0:25:30.560