MEXICO CITY (AP) – Artists and space fans Carla Morrison and Juanes will participate Thursday in the official program in Spanish prior to the landing of NASA’s Perseverance robot on Mars.
This will be the first time that NASA has conducted a program in Spanish for a planetary landing. The program “Together Persevere” begins at 2:30 in New York (1900 GMT) and the landing is expected to be at 3:55 pm (2055 GMT). It will be available on the agency’s website and on its social networks in Spanish: Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
“There are many Latinos involved (in the mission) which I think is something very interesting and important for the new generations,” said Morrison, who enjoys seeing the Moon through telescopes and dreamed of being an astronaut, in an interview with AP by video call from Los Angels
“Anyone who dreams of having a space at NASA, in science, it is important to see ourselves represented because that is what inspires us and helps us dream as individuals,” Morrison added.
“Together we persevere” will be presented by Perseverance engineer Diana Trujillo. A pre-recorded section will include interviews with Hispanic NASA scientists, engineers and astronauts. There will also be a children’s segment in collaboration with Sésamo, while prominent figures from the entertainment world, such as Morrison and Juanes, as well as students and journalists will send messages of support.
“I am very proud of NASA’s efforts to better share the excitement of the Perseverance rover landing with the nearly 500 million Spanish-speakers around the world,” said NASA Acting Chief of Staff Bhayva Lal in a statement. “‘Together we persevere’ is NASA’s first Spanish-language program for a historic landing on another planet and will show the diversity of the NASA team after Mars 2020.”
The Mars 2020 mission finally reaches the red planet after being launched on July 30 last year. Its main function is to search for signs of past microbial life, as well as to collect rock and regolith samples (rock fragments and minerals) for future shipment to earth.
The robot is scheduled to land in the Jézero crater on Mars. Perseverance transports a pioneering technological experiment, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, which will attempt to carry out the first controlled and powered flight on another planet. It will also test the MOXIE instrument, which will produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in Mars’ atmosphere.
Perseverance is expected to explore the red planet’s soil and atmosphere for at least one Martian year, which is equivalent to about 687 Earth days.
It is the interplanetary mission with the most cameras to date (23) and will include for the first time two microphones that will try to capture the audio of the robot’s operations and travel, as well as the environment of Mars.
Perseverance NASA’s fifth rover robot on Mars and, if successful, will make NASA’s ninth landing on that planet.
“Excited to be able to witness in life one of the greatest achievements of humanity and that will also help to bring us closer to the red planet as a species,” Juanes said in a statement Wednesday. “I celebrate the contributions that so many Latinos have made to the effort of the NASA ”, added the artist whose album“ My plans are to love you ”represents a trip from Mars to Earth in which Juanes plays an astronaut whose mission is to get closer to the source of his inspiration: love.
