At 12:55 pm on the 18th (local time), an announcement rang in the control room of the jet propulsion research center of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in California. The researchers, waiting for the results with nervous expressions, cheered all at once.
On the 19th at 5:55 am KST, the US Mars probe’Perciviarance’ successfully landed on Mars. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said Percivirence had landed on Mars after flying 466 million km in 204 days.
Percivirence signaled that it would land at the NASA control room at 5:48 am on the same day. The seven minutes of landing for Persivirance are called ‘7 minutes of horror’ because they have to go through complex maneuvers from entering the atmosphere to descent and landing. Failure to slow it down could result in a probe that cost $2.7 billion (about 3 trillion won) to develop and crash into the ground. The control room held his breath and waited for the next signal. The signal from Mars to Earth takes 11 minutes and 20 seconds, so when the landing initiation signal is received, it has already been determined whether the rover will land successfully or not.
Percivirence entered Mars’ atmosphere and landed at the Jezero crash ball, which is believed to have existed 3.5 billion years ago after a’seven minute of horror’ descent. (NASA YouTube capture of the US Aerospace Administration) 2021.2.19-Persistence, which means’patience’ in English, entered the atmosphere of Mars at a speed of 20,000 km, 16 times the speed of sound, in a cylindrical capsule. The capsule has a thermal protection shield in front to prevent the high temperature rise above 1300 degrees in 80 seconds due to friction with the atmosphere. Four minutes after entering the atmosphere, the speed decreased to 1600 km/h, and the speed was further reduced by deploying a huge 21.5m diameter parachute. The thermal protection shield fell off, revealing the perivirance in the capsule and the skycrane carrying it. The skycrane separated from the capsule ignited the reverse propulsion engine, reducing the speed to 2.7 km/h. Then, using a string, he gently lowered the rover under the ground.
Percivirence entered Mars’ atmosphere and landed at the Jezero crash ball, which is believed to have existed 3.5 billion years ago after a’seven minute of horror’ descent. (NASA YouTube capture of the US Aerospace Administration) 2021.2.19-The first picture of the surface of Mars sent by Percivirence was a deserted plain with sparse rocks. It showed that it landed properly by choosing a flat place. The shadow of Percivirence was also clearly reflected over Mars. US President Joe Biden, who watched the landings on TV at the White House, tweeted, “It once again proves that nothing is impossible before the power of science and the ingenuity of Americans.” Percivirence is NASA’s 9th Mars lander and 6th Mars Rover. It is 3m long and weighs 1026kg, the size of a compact car. The main task of Persivirance is to find traces of life on Mars. The landing site of Percivirance, Yejeero Crater, has a topography that appears to have created a delta as a river flows 3.5 billion years ago.
In particular, Percivirence’s special task is to collect samples of Martian soil. This is the first attempt to bring Martian soil to Earth. NASA, in partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA), sends a sample collection vehicle rover collected by Percivirence in 2026. Martian soil is expected to come to Earth by 2031. The 1.8kg small helicopter’Ingenuity’ was also loaded on the Percivirance. Ingenuity attempts its first fuselage flight in Mars’ atmosphere, which is difficult to fly due to its density of only one tenth of Earth’s atmosphere.
Not only the United States, but also the UAE and Chinese Mars probes successfully entered Mars this month. The first Arab Mars probe,’Amal’, launched by the UAE, entered Mars orbit on the 9th of this month, and Tianyuan 1, the Mars probe launched by China, on the 10th. China plans to land the lander and rover on Mars in May.
Reporter Jo Seung-han, Dong-A Science [email protected]
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