WEBVTT - Perseverance and Ingenuity 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:12.680 Welcome to Text, a production from I Heart Radio. Hey there, 0:00:12.760 --> 0:00:16.440 and welcome to tex Stuff. I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. 0:00:16.520 --> 0:00:19.520 I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio and I 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.600 love all things tech Now. At the end of July 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:28.319 twenty NASA plans to launch a new rover on a 0:00:28.400 --> 0:00:33.400 journey to Mars to continue the work of Sojournal, Spirit, Opportunity, 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:37.839 and Curiosity, all of which have really extended our knowledge 0:00:38.000 --> 0:00:42.200 of the Red planet. This new rover is called Perseverance, 0:00:42.680 --> 0:00:46.199 and it really is something special. So today we're going 0:00:46.240 --> 0:00:48.960 to learn about the rover and its mission, and also 0:00:49.040 --> 0:00:54.000 a high risk, high reward experiment called Ingenuity that is 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.560 not technically part of Perseverance, but is going along for 0:00:57.560 --> 0:01:01.279 the ride. However, before we do that, we've got a 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.720 lot of other ground to cover, both here on Earth 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.880 and on Mars, and I want to talk a little 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:11.280 bit about why I chose this as a topic in 0:01:11.319 --> 0:01:16.759 the first place. First is timing. Obviously, this episode should 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.319 come out a couple of weeks before the scheduled launch, 0:01:19.600 --> 0:01:24.520 assuming everything goes well. And another reason is that these 0:01:24.560 --> 0:01:29.480 missions often reinforce things that I find really inspiring and 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.200 even hopeful. Transporting a spacecraft to Mars, let alone landing 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.920 something on that planet, and then using that something to 0:01:38.040 --> 0:01:44.120 explore and conduct scientific experiments. That's a monumental achievement. It 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.360 requires so much work, and it builds on more than 0:01:47.400 --> 0:01:51.720 a century of discoveries and theories. It's a team effort 0:01:51.880 --> 0:01:56.280 in which hundreds of people pull their talent and expertise 0:01:56.320 --> 0:01:59.200 to pull off what when you really look at it, 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:02.440 seems like it should be impossible. So while we have 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:05.480 tons of problems we need to address here on Earth, 0:02:05.560 --> 0:02:11.040 from dealing with the pandemic to addressing real social inequalities 0:02:11.120 --> 0:02:13.640 and more, I look at how people have managed to 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:17.200 build devices that explore another planet, and it strikes me 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:21.280 that if we have the determination, we really can achieve 0:02:21.480 --> 0:02:26.040 incredible things. We just need to apply that determination. Anyway, 0:02:26.080 --> 0:02:29.920 here we go. As I record this, NASA has already 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.320 pushed back the launch a couple of times. So at 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.920 the moment when I'm sitting at this microphone, the scheduled 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.519 launch date is for July. Now, if that date should 0:02:41.560 --> 0:02:45.680 slip for whatever reason, NASA will have a relatively narrow 0:02:45.760 --> 0:02:49.280 window to launch or else face the reality that they 0:02:49.280 --> 0:02:53.320 will have to shelve this project for more than two years. 0:02:53.360 --> 0:02:57.280 So why is that. Well, let's imagine the Solar system. 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.960 Earth is the third planet out from the Sun, Mars 0:03:02.400 --> 0:03:06.120 is the fourth planet out Earthen Mars revolve around the 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:10.000 Sun at different speeds, which means sometimes the two planets 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:14.880 are moving closer together and sometimes they are moving further 0:03:15.000 --> 0:03:19.880 apart in their respective orbits. Both planets have elliptical rather 0:03:19.919 --> 0:03:23.320 than circular orbits around the Sun, which also means there's 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:26.680 a point in the orbit where each respective planet is 0:03:27.200 --> 0:03:30.840 closest to the Sun. This is called the parahelion. And 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:34.200 there's also a point in the orbit where each respective 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.720 planet is furthest from the Sun. This is the aphelian 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:42.040 oh and also, both of these orbits are slightly tilted 0:03:42.200 --> 0:03:46.080 with respect to one another, complicating things even more because 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:50.560 they don't lie in the same orbital plane. These three 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.920 dimensional realities are a real pain in the neck. All 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.920 of this means that when the planets do approach one another, 0:03:59.480 --> 0:04:02.840 they aren't in the same spots in their respective orbits 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.920 as they were the last time they got close to 0:04:05.960 --> 0:04:09.120 one another. The closest they've been to each other in 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:14.480 recorded history is about thirty three point nine million miles apart, 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:19.520 or fifty four point six million kilometers, and at that distance, 0:04:19.800 --> 0:04:23.400 it would take light about three minutes to travel from 0:04:23.440 --> 0:04:27.039 one planet to the other, and that's the fastest stuff 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.680 in the universe. Remember, nothing goes faster than light. To 0:04:30.839 --> 0:04:34.039 even have that situation, you would need the Earth to 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.039 be at its aphelian where it's furthest from the Sun, 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.920 and Mars would have to be at its parahelion, where 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:45.880 it is closest to the Sun, and both planets are 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:49.680 on the same side of the Sun. And this does 0:04:49.720 --> 0:04:54.360 not happen frequently, at least not on human terms. That 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:58.560 thirty three point nine million mile distance happened back in 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.600 two thousand three, and according to math, that was the 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:08.000 closest the two planets have been for fifty thousand years. Now, 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:11.160 generally speaking, you do get two spans of time when 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:14.200 the two planets are relatively close to each other. But 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.320 because we're not just looking at orbital position, but the 0:05:17.360 --> 0:05:21.960 shape of the orbits themselves, it's complicated and those are 0:05:22.000 --> 0:05:24.640 a lot of parameters that you have to have line up. 0:05:25.080 --> 0:05:29.559 This scenario where Earth passes between Mars and the Sun 0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:34.400 is called opposition, and we call it opposition because from 0:05:34.440 --> 0:05:38.479 our perspective here on Earth, Mars appears to be exactly 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:41.960 opposite where the Sun is. As the Sun is setting 0:05:41.960 --> 0:05:45.719 at night, Mars is rising in the east, and when 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.520 Mars sets in the west during the morning hours, the 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:54.040 Sun is rising in the east. During opposition, Mars appears 0:05:54.120 --> 0:05:56.679 as if it is a red star in the sky, 0:05:57.000 --> 0:06:01.159 nearly as bright as Venus is. If it happens when 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:06.960 Mars is closest to the Sun, we call it parahelick opposition. Moreover, 0:06:07.400 --> 0:06:10.600 the distance will begin to grow after that point as 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:13.320 the planets begin to move apart from each other due 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.520 to their different orbital velocities and elliptical orbits. So at 0:06:17.520 --> 0:06:21.160 the extreme end, when the two planets are the furthest 0:06:21.240 --> 0:06:24.880 they can possibly be from each other on either side 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.719 of the Sun. So the Sun is in between Earth 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:32.160 and Mars, they are two hundred forty nine million miles apart, 0:06:32.360 --> 0:06:36.919 or four hundred one million kilometers. At that distance, it 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:41.040 would take light a whopping twenty two minutes to travel 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:45.080 between Mars and Earth. Not that this really matters because 0:06:45.080 --> 0:06:46.960 you also have a big old Sun in the way, 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:51.200 so you would actually have complications. This scenario is called 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:55.400 a solar conjunction. Now here's the thing. Because of all 0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.320 the factors that I've described here, it takes a little 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.839 more than two years to go from one opposition or 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:07.480 one conjunction to the next one. And actually it's about 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:12.400 twenty six months. So Earthen Mars will get the closest 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:15.520 they can possibly be in their respective orbits to one another, 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:18.440 and then it takes another twenty six months for it 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:22.040 to happen again. Halfway through those toy six months, you 0:07:22.080 --> 0:07:24.960 will get to the point where they are furthest from 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:27.880 each other and you get the conjunction. Now, why did 0:07:27.920 --> 0:07:31.760 I spend so much time talking about that, Well, it's 0:07:31.800 --> 0:07:36.040 because NASA has to take all of this into account 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:40.040 when planning out emission to Mars. You want to minimize 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.800 the distance that your spacecraft has to travel in order 0:07:43.800 --> 0:07:48.720 to get to its destination. Space travel is tough, man, 0:07:49.000 --> 0:07:52.400 I mean, it requires a lot of fuel, and fuel 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:57.160 has mass, and mass means that you need more to 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:00.920 get out into space. So you can't just add more 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:04.720 fuel to a launch vehicle all willy nilly, because just 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:09.840 adding that fuel changes things. Moreover, you want to minimize 0:08:09.920 --> 0:08:12.600 all the things that can go wrong while traveling from 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.760 point Earth to point Mars. One good way to do 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:19.240 that is to reduce the amount of travel time, which 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:22.000 means aiming for a time when the two planets are 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:26.440 going to be closest. Moreover, you don't just launch when 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:29.320 Earth and Mars are close, because it takes about a 0:08:29.400 --> 0:08:32.200 hundred fifty days or so for a space vehicle to 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.160 get from Earth to Mars under ideal conditions, and these 0:08:36.200 --> 0:08:38.800 planets remain in motion that whole time. It's not like 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:42.360 they just stop. So if you aim your rocket to 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.760 where Mars is now, Mars won't be there by the 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:50.080 time the rocket arrives at that location in space. The 0:08:50.120 --> 0:08:53.000 best you can hope for is maybe a note written 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:55.560 by Mars that says something like sorry, I missed you, 0:08:55.960 --> 0:09:00.400 And Mars is notoriously bad at writing notes, so instead 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.520 you have to aim at where Mars will be rather 0:09:03.559 --> 0:09:07.199 than where Mars is. It's like leading a target if 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.640 you were skeet shooting right a clay pigeon is shot 0:09:10.720 --> 0:09:12.200 up into the air, you have to lead it a 0:09:12.200 --> 0:09:14.760 little bit if you want to hit it well. This year, 0:09:15.200 --> 0:09:18.480 Mars and Earth will actually be closest, not in July, 0:09:19.040 --> 0:09:23.640 during the scheduled launch, but in October. Specifically on October, 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.080 that's when the two plants will be thirty eight point 0:09:27.200 --> 0:09:32.160 six million miles apart or sixty two point one million kilometers. Again, 0:09:32.559 --> 0:09:34.960 not as close as they were back in two thousand three, 0:09:35.040 --> 0:09:38.680 because they are not gonna be at the ideal points 0:09:38.760 --> 0:09:42.319 in their respective orbits to be absolutely the closest they 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:46.240 can be. The last day NASA can launch a space 0:09:46.320 --> 0:09:49.520 vehicle and take advantage of all this would be August. 0:09:50.640 --> 0:09:54.600 If conditions prevent NASA from launching by that date, will 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:59.000 probably be waiting around two years before we get another opportunity. 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.720 This is also why if you look at the history 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.319 of missions to Mars, you'll see they hit pretty much 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:09.080 every two years or so. This is also why when 0:10:09.080 --> 0:10:12.559 we talk about potential human missions to Mars, we typically 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:16.280 talk about a long mission that would see astronauts stay 0:10:16.320 --> 0:10:18.880 on Mars for a couple of years, because it would 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:21.920 be too challenging to land on Mars, you know, goof 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:24.080 around for a week or so, and then try and 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:27.840 launch back to Earth because the distance would be mounting 0:10:27.960 --> 0:10:31.400 between the two planets. We would need a mission where 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.760 we could spend an appreciable amount of time on Mars, 0:10:35.200 --> 0:10:38.959 perhaps creating new rocket fuel on Mars itself. That way, 0:10:39.000 --> 0:10:42.240 we don't have to carry a return trips worth of 0:10:42.360 --> 0:10:45.920 fuel on our way there. That would be kind of 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.120 a deal breaker, because not only are you talking about 0:10:48.120 --> 0:10:51.400 an enormous amount of weight, which again adds to your 0:10:51.640 --> 0:10:54.760 concerns when you're launching the vehicle, it also represents a 0:10:54.800 --> 0:11:00.079 massive hazard. You know, rocket fuel is dangerous stuff. But 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.560 we'll get more into that when we talk about one 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.160 of the experiments that Perseverance is going to do on 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:10.680 its mission. Interestingly, whether the launch vehicle takes off on 0:11:10.800 --> 0:11:14.800 July or on August fifteenth, or any date in between, 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.600 the estimated date when it will enter service, that is, 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:22.160 when it will land on Mars and establish communications from 0:11:22.360 --> 0:11:25.400 the surface of the red planet back here to Earth, 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:30.520 that date is the same. It's February twenty one. So 0:11:30.559 --> 0:11:32.840 if the launch does go ahead as planned, and I 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.280 really hope it does, it's still going to be a 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.400 while before NASA can conclude whether or not the mission 0:11:38.880 --> 0:11:43.400 was a success, or even just the initial part of 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:47.360 the mission is a success. Moreover All, this distance between 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.839 Earth and Mars means that any rover mission to Mars 0:11:50.880 --> 0:11:55.040 requires a lot of automation, a lot of autonomy. The 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.120 distances here mean that at minimum, you're looking at around 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.120 six min minutes between when you can send a command 0:12:02.120 --> 0:12:04.440 to a rover on Mars and when you'll get a 0:12:04.480 --> 0:12:08.240 return signal. That's if Earthen Mars are as close as 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:12.559 they can possibly be, and usually that's not even the case. 0:12:12.600 --> 0:12:15.600 We don't typically have that right. Most of the time. 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.680 Earth and Mars are pretty far away from each other. 0:12:18.840 --> 0:12:22.080 When the Curiosity rover arrived on Mars on August six, 0:12:22.160 --> 0:12:25.160 two twelve, the distance between the two plants meant it 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:28.320 took nearly fourteen minutes to get signals from the rover. 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.920 With that sort of delay, it's impossible to manually control things, 0:12:33.120 --> 0:12:36.320 so you have to create vehicles that can land and 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:40.080 operate on their own. One way to do that is 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:44.280 to design parachutes that deploy once the spacecraft or ejected 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:47.920 rover reaches a certain altitude above Mars. But the Martian 0:12:47.960 --> 0:12:51.800 atmosphere is really thin. That's going to be important later 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:55.000 in this episode two. In fact, the atmospheric pressure at 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:58.480 the surface of Mars is similar to what you would 0:12:58.520 --> 0:13:02.800 find at thirty five kilometers of altitude here on Earth, 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:07.840 so that's a lot thirty five thousand meters above the Earth. 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:11.680 That air pressure is similar to the standard surface level 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.880 air pressure on Mars. To put it another way, we 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:19.360 measure atmospheric pressure and units called milla bars. Here on Earth, 0:13:19.520 --> 0:13:23.640 the pressure at sea level is one thousand, thirteen millibars. 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.960 Mars is atmospheric pressure varies during the Martian year, but 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:31.760 it averages out to be between six to seven millibars. 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:37.000 That's it, So one thirteen here on Earth, six to seven, 0:13:37.600 --> 0:13:41.480 not thousand, just six to seven on Mars. Now, since 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:44.719 parachutes work by forcing air into a canopy and then 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:49.559 effectively turning that canopy into a wing, you need atmosphere 0:13:49.600 --> 0:13:52.040 for it to work. A parachute would be useless on 0:13:52.120 --> 0:13:55.920 Earth's Moon, for example, because there's not enough atmosphere to 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.360 turn the parachute into a wing. Mars has an atmosphere 0:13:59.679 --> 0:14:02.559 it's in, but it's there. However, it is so thin 0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.800 that parachutes can typically only provide a little bit of 0:14:05.840 --> 0:14:10.240 the breaking and support during the landing process. So NASA 0:14:10.280 --> 0:14:12.600 has used a few different techniques to get rovers on 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:15.520 the surface and not have them just break apart upon 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:21.440 landing including housing rovers in landing craft equipped with air bags. 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.880 The air bags could help cushion the impact on the landing. 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:28.400 On Mars, the Curiosity Rover had a super awesome approach. 0:14:28.800 --> 0:14:32.920 The rover was inside a descent vehicle, which in turn 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:36.800 was inside a larger uh structure. It was called the 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:41.080 Mars Science Laboratory or MSL, and the MSL had thrusters 0:14:41.080 --> 0:14:43.360 on it that could make fine tune adjustments during the 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.440 descent phase in order to maintain the right orientation. That 0:14:46.560 --> 0:14:49.520 also had a heat shield to absorb heat during you know, 0:14:49.720 --> 0:14:55.040 entering the Martian atmosphere. And once it reached a certain altitude, 0:14:55.120 --> 0:14:59.200 it deployed a parachute which helped slow its descent, and 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:03.960 then at a bit lower in altitude, the MSL ejected 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.960 a descent stage. So this was kind of a platform 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:11.040 with thrusters on it, and the rover was mounted inside 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:16.200 the platform and this would fire its thrusters, slowing its 0:15:16.200 --> 0:15:21.640 descent further until it hovered above the Martian surface. Then 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.280 it lowered the Curiosity rover on a tether, turning the 0:15:26.320 --> 0:15:29.960 descent vehicle into what they called a sky crane. The 0:15:30.040 --> 0:15:32.440 idea was that the rover would touch down on Mars, 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:36.280 it would sever the tether to the descent stage, and 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:38.360 then the rover would be ready to go to work. 0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:42.720 And here's the thing. This whole process from entering Mars's 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:45.280 atmosphere all the way to the point where the rover 0:15:45.400 --> 0:15:50.320 touched down would take about seven minutes. But you remember 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:54.400 the delay. It was fourteen minutes of a communication delay, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:57.600 So the whole process took about half the time it 0:15:57.680 --> 0:16:00.520 takes communications to go from Mars to Earth at this 0:16:00.600 --> 0:16:04.120 point in the two planets orbits. So the whole process 0:16:04.160 --> 0:16:07.520 had to happen without human intervention, and not only that, 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:11.000 a success would mean that the rover would actually be 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.960 down on Mars for seven minutes before we even knew 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:18.080 if it had worked. And it turns out it did work, 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.240 which truly is phenomenal. And I even did a special 0:16:22.280 --> 0:16:25.680 podcast with Tom Merritt of Daily Tech News show Fame 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:28.600 back when this happened in two thousand twelve. I remember 0:16:28.600 --> 0:16:31.560 getting really emotional about this because when you consider the 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.280 innovation and inventiveness required to make something like this actually work, 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:40.280 it's really incredible. The perseverance rover will follow in curiosities 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:45.200 um tire tracks, and that it's going to use a 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:49.040 similar strategy for e d L. That stands for Intrigue, 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.120 Descent and Landing, so it's also going to use the 0:16:52.120 --> 0:16:55.640 skycrane maneuver in order to land. And this time the 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:58.320 descent vehicle will have a couple of new tricks up 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.480 its proverbial sleeve. For example, it will have a set 0:17:01.520 --> 0:17:06.280 of tools called Terrain relative Navigation or TRN, which will 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.800 scan the Martian terrain and allow the vehicle to change 0:17:09.840 --> 0:17:13.080 its descent path in order to avoid any terrain that 0:17:13.119 --> 0:17:16.399 looks particularly hazardous and that improves the chances of a 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:19.719 successful touchdown. And it's also going to have a microphone, 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:21.600 so we'll get to hear what it sounds like to 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:25.200 land on Mars. Plus if the rover wants to bust 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.720 out some David Bowie karaoke on the way down, that 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:31.160 microphone will come in awful handy. When we come back, 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.080 I'll talk more about the tools aboard the Perseverance, what 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.160 they are meant to do, and a bit about how 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:48.679 they work, But first let's take a quick break. Perseverance 0:17:49.000 --> 0:17:53.400 is about the same size as its predecessor, Curiosity, which 0:17:53.440 --> 0:17:56.280 means it's the size of a small car. It weighs 0:17:56.280 --> 0:18:00.240 a bit more than Curiosity as well. UH has a 0:18:00.320 --> 0:18:05.440 mass of one thousands, so here on Earth it weighs 0:18:05.520 --> 0:18:10.000 two thousand, two hundred sixty pounds. If we don't include 0:18:10.200 --> 0:18:14.320 the rover's arm. The rover measures about ten ft long 0:18:14.640 --> 0:18:18.400 by nine ft wide, and it's seven ft tall. That's 0:18:18.440 --> 0:18:21.640 a three meters by two point seven meters by two 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:25.560 point two meters, so it's a pretty big rover. Before 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:29.400 we get into the super techy stuff and the goals 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:33.480 of perseverance, let's look at some other related things. For example, 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.879 the launch vehicle perseverance will depend upon the launch of 0:18:37.920 --> 0:18:43.359 an Atlas five one launch vehicle from the United Launch Alliance. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.280 This is a two stage rocket essentially, and it stands 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:51.200 fifty eight meters or one ft tall when the payload 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:55.040 is attached to the top. Fully fueled. With the payload 0:18:55.080 --> 0:18:58.760 in place, the full launch vehicle weighs five hundred thirty 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:03.400 one thousand kilogram ms or one point one seven million pounds. 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:07.560 The five for one designation tells us a lot about 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:10.560 the launch vehicle, as it turns out, so that five 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.760 and five four one refers to the diameter of the 0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:17.439 fairing that holds the payload in place with the launch vehicle. 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:20.240 So in this case, the spacecraft that will hold the 0:19:20.280 --> 0:19:25.920 perseverance and this fairing is five meters in diameter. That's 0:19:25.960 --> 0:19:28.360 what that five means. So what's the four and five 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:30.720 or one means? Well, that tells us how many solid 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:34.640 fuel rocket boosters are part of this launch vehicle. So 0:19:34.760 --> 0:19:38.120 there are four solid fuel rocket boosters, and the one 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.080 tells us how many rocket engines are in the second stage. 0:19:42.280 --> 0:19:45.760 This is called the center and there are single engine 0:19:45.800 --> 0:19:49.399 centaurs and dual engine centaurs, so this one is a 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:54.800 single engine centaur. The first stages rocket engine is called 0:19:54.840 --> 0:19:57.880 the r D one eight and this one was made 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:01.119 in Russia. The engine burn is the fuel made of 0:20:01.200 --> 0:20:05.560 kerosene and liquid oxygen. The second stage centaur uses fuel 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:09.240 made of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which must be 0:20:09.320 --> 0:20:12.520 kept at very low temperatures to remain liquid, and for 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:17.359 that reason they are called cryogenic propellants. So at launch, 0:20:17.640 --> 0:20:20.600 the boosters and rocket engine for the first stage will 0:20:20.640 --> 0:20:24.200 carry the vehicle up to a certain altitude and that's 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:26.600 where the first stage will separate from the rest of 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:28.840 the vehicle. The first stage will fall back to Earth. 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.200 The second stage ignites and propels the spacecraft out to 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:35.800 its trajectory to bring it on an intercept course with Mars, 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:38.760 and then it separates from the launch vehicle, and then 0:20:38.840 --> 0:20:42.400 Perseverance aboarded spacecraft will be on its way on its 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.080 very long trip out to Mars. So, assuming everything goes 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:49.360 as planned, Perseverance will touch down on Mars in February 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:53.560 twenty twenty one thanks to the skycrane maneuver. If things 0:20:53.600 --> 0:20:57.119 don't go as planned, uh, I mean, I don't know, 0:20:57.400 --> 0:20:59.479 I mean if it if it doesn't launch Biogus fifteen, 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:01.560 there's a real question of whether or not the project 0:21:01.560 --> 0:21:03.840 can be put on hold for two years. And if 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.800 something goes wrong, well, I guess you know, the mission 0:21:06.920 --> 0:21:09.960 scrapped and stuff can go wrong because space, as it 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.880 turns out, is super hard. I mean, like that thing 0:21:13.000 --> 0:21:16.560 is trying to kill you. But let's say it all 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:19.399 goes to plan and the rover makes it to Mars. 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.120 What is it going to do when it's there. Well, 0:21:23.200 --> 0:21:26.359 NASA says the mission will last at least one year 0:21:26.440 --> 0:21:30.320 on Mars. That is one Martian year. That's equal to 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:34.600 six hundred eighty seven Earth days, so nearly two full 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:38.920 Earth years. If the mission is a success, we may 0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:42.480 well see the experiments stretch on much longer than that. 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:47.440 The Opportunity mission was only intended to last for ninety days, 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:51.720 but it was able to continue for nearly fifteen years. 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:54.280 But what is Perseverance going to do when it's up 0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:58.000 there all that time. The overall program Perseverance is part 0:21:58.040 --> 0:22:01.199 of it is called the Mars Exploration Program or m 0:22:01.240 --> 0:22:04.440 e P, and one of the primary goals of m 0:22:04.480 --> 0:22:08.320 e P is to look for signs of life, most 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:12.840 likely signs that life once existed on Mars thousands and 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:16.560 thousands and millions of years ago. But boy, it really 0:22:16.560 --> 0:22:19.280 would be cool if we found evidence of microbial life 0:22:19.280 --> 0:22:24.240 on Mars today. NASA has laid out four science objectives 0:22:24.240 --> 0:22:27.639 that Perseverance will pursue in an effort to further this goal. 0:22:28.000 --> 0:22:32.520 The four objectives are looking for habitability, that is, seeking 0:22:32.520 --> 0:22:36.280 out areas that could have supported microbial life in the 0:22:36.320 --> 0:22:41.080 ancient past, seeking bio signatures, so looking for evidence that 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:45.840 microbial life actually did exist in these habitable environments, such 0:22:45.840 --> 0:22:50.199 as in signs and the rocks themselves. Cashing samples. This 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:54.080 is all about collecting and analyzing rock and soil samples, 0:22:54.560 --> 0:22:57.560 and preparing for humans, which will take on the super 0:22:57.560 --> 0:23:01.400 cool challenge of producing oxygen on Mars. Now we'll dive 0:23:01.440 --> 0:23:04.280 into these more in a moment, but in addition to 0:23:04.359 --> 0:23:09.160 the four primary objectives, Perseverance will also study the seasons 0:23:09.160 --> 0:23:12.719 on Mars and how weather patterns change, including stuff like 0:23:13.040 --> 0:23:17.240 dust storms. It will be building on our understanding of Mars, 0:23:17.359 --> 0:23:20.680 which will be critical if we ever do actually want 0:23:20.720 --> 0:23:24.719 to send astronauts there or colonists. So a lot of 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:27.600 what Perseverance will be doing sets the stage for future 0:23:27.600 --> 0:23:31.080 missions with actual humans on Mars. NASA is going about 0:23:31.160 --> 0:23:34.800 this in a very methodical way. And I say that 0:23:34.960 --> 0:23:37.159 because I'm sure at least some of you remember the 0:23:37.240 --> 0:23:42.280 private organization called Mars One that had the stated goal 0:23:42.440 --> 0:23:46.320 of establishing a permanent colony on Mars. The Mars One 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:50.440 Plan was to create habitats on the planet, or technically 0:23:50.760 --> 0:23:54.320 under the surface of the planet, because Mars doesn't have 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:57.480 the same protective measures as Earth does when it comes 0:23:57.480 --> 0:24:01.760 to deflecting harmful radiation and articles from stuff like you know, 0:24:02.520 --> 0:24:06.600 the Sun, and the Mars One Plan didn't have anything 0:24:06.680 --> 0:24:09.160 in it about coming back to Earth. This was a 0:24:09.240 --> 0:24:13.440 one way trip. The organization was founded in two thousand eleven. 0:24:13.680 --> 0:24:17.000 It attempted to raise money from investors and through an 0:24:17.000 --> 0:24:21.240 application process in which people would vie to be considered 0:24:21.280 --> 0:24:26.200 as astronauts for this mission, but it ultimately didn't go anywhere, 0:24:26.520 --> 0:24:28.639 and that, by the way, is a big strike against 0:24:28.800 --> 0:24:34.480 space exploration. Typically in space exploration, you gotta go somewhere, right, 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:38.720 So the owners ended up liquidating the organization in early 0:24:38.760 --> 0:24:41.800 two thousand nineteen. Some people think the whole thing was 0:24:41.840 --> 0:24:44.920 nothing more than a scam. Now. I don't know if 0:24:44.960 --> 0:24:48.280 the founders intentionally set out to mislead people or not, 0:24:48.720 --> 0:24:51.720 but I was certainly skeptical of the efforts, as it 0:24:51.760 --> 0:24:55.280 seemed to be taking a lot of assumptions as concrete facts, 0:24:55.440 --> 0:25:00.440 and that's dangerous. Now, that's not the case with NASA's approach. 0:25:00.720 --> 0:25:05.120 It's always dangerous. Space is always dangerous, but they're not 0:25:05.240 --> 0:25:09.080 taking assumptions as fact. Their approach is to build a 0:25:09.160 --> 0:25:14.119 foundation of knowledge upon which future missions will continue to build, 0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:18.159 with the hopeful goal of one day having astronauts themselves 0:25:18.240 --> 0:25:21.920 set foot on Mars. But NASA is not quite as 0:25:22.000 --> 0:25:25.639 cavalier as the Mars one plan. So let's start with 0:25:25.680 --> 0:25:28.760