- NASA showed debris on Mars
- A helicopter photographed the aftermath of the “seven minutes of horror”
The American space agency NASA has shown images of the debris of the landing gear that brought the Perseverance rover to the surface of Mars. From a bird’s eye view, we can see the heat shield, which had to handle heating up to 1,300 degrees Celsius during the descent, and the large parachute that brought the robot safely to the surface.
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Useful data for NASA
The Mars rover Perseverance began its descent to the surface of Mars two years ago in February. The landing maneuver earned the nickname “7 minutes of terror”, which began immediately after entering the atmosphere. Let’s briefly recap what really happened in those seven minutes.
As Perseverance entered the atmosphere, the heat shield helped protect the rover from the searing heat (it withstood 1,300 degrees Celsius at its worst) and slowed it down dramatically. A parachute could then be opened from the back (conical part of the descent module) to make the rover descend even more slowly. At an altitude of several meters, the heat shield and parachute then separated from Perseverance, and the descent section lowered the rover by ropes to the surface of the planet before flying to a safe distance.
Speaking to the NY Times about the photos, Ian Clark, an engineer who worked on the Perseverance parachute system, said: “It’s very interesting: There’s definitely a science fiction element to it. They exude otherworldliness, don’t they?” “They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but also an infinite amount of technical knowledge,” he added. Photographing the landing site of the Perseverance rover is extremely valuable to NASA.
According to Clark, the images are very useful for technicians working on future missions. “Perseverance had the best-documented Mars landing in history, with cameras showing everything from parachute inflation to landing. But the Ingenuity images offer a different perspective.”
Ingenuity is overcome on Mars
The helicopter, the size of a small drone, has so far exceeded all expectations of scientists. Ingenuity was originally scheduled to make just five scheduled flights over several months. However, due to their successful completion, the scientific team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) decided to continue. Now he is about to go on his 68th mission and fly an incredible 828 meters.
Preview photo source: Pixabay, source: Unilad, NASA
2023-12-19 06:30:03
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