- From July 20, NASA should launch a new Mars exploration mission from Cape Canaveral, with the aim of depositing, on the surface of the red planet, Perseverance , six months later , a new rover.
- In the footsteps of Curiosity , the astromobile will extend the search for traces of life on Mars. With the particularity this time of collecting and conditioning in tubes pieces of Martian rocks.
- This is only the first step in a mission that will ultimately aim to bring these samples back to Earth. The hope then, for many scientists, to take a big step on a crucial question: was there life on Mars?
"Why, when four billion years ago, Earth and Mars were much more alike than they are today - with a dense atmosphere, liquid water, a large-scale magnetic field -, is there life on the first and not or more on the second? This question, formulated here by Antoine Petit, President and CEO of the CNRS, has been tormenting scientists for several decades.
"And to answer it, it will be necessary, at least once, to bring samples of Mars back to Earth," says Michel Viso, expert in exobiology at the National Center for Space Studies (Cnes).
#CapSurMars Perseverance continues to search for traces of life on Mars. This mission also prepares the premises for manned exploration of the red planet 👩🚀👨🚀 pic.twitter.com/LRNzHivK14
- CNES (@CNES) June 30, 2020In the footsteps of "Curiosity"
It could be ten years from now if "March 2020" goes off without a hitch. This is the new mission to explore the planet Mars of NASA, the American space agency. Takeoff is imminent. "From July 20, from Cape Canaveral," says Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of Cnes.
It will be to deposit six months later, around February 18, 2021, on the red planet, Perseverance , a new rover [a probe capable of moving on a star]. The robot has long been called Curiosity 2 , in reference to its illustrious elder who has been surveying Mars since August 6, 2012, and has traveled 22 km in the crater of Gale. Curiosity's mission : to analyze the mineralogical composition and study the geology of the explored area, to collect data on the meteorology and the radiations which reach the ground of the planet, but also to research if an environment favorable to the appearance of life has exist.
Supercam, Franco-American Swiss Army Knife of "Perseverance"
Perserverance is to be seen as the following. This technological gem - three meters long by as much wide, two meters high and a mass of just over a ton - carries seven scientific instruments with it. Including Supercam, its "Swiss army knife", which uses a laser and a set of spectrometers to remotely determine the chemical and mineralogical composition of the rocks that Perseverance will approach . Cocorico, this instrument, the main rover, is Franco-American * as was already the Chemcam, the equivalent tool on Curiosity , reports Antoine Petit.
Perseverance includes other spectrometers, but also cameras, a weather station, or Moxie, a demonstrator that will seek to verify the possibility of producing oxygen from carbon dioxide, the major component (96%) of the Martian atmosphere. On board, also, a 1.8 kg mini-helicopter, another tested novelty that will help steer Perseverance and prevent it from being damaged on excessively sharp rocks.
Bringing Mars samples back to Earth
Last but not least, Perseverance will be equipped with a sampling and packaging system. This is the heart of the Mars 2020 mission, which is broken down into three stages. "The astromobile will collect 41 samples of rocks, which it will package in sealed tubes which it will then deposit on the surface of Mars, explains Jean-Yves Le Gall. Then, another rover [which should be launched around 2026] will drop them into a small rocket so that they can be sent into orbit around Mars. This is where a satellite will recover and take care of bringing them back to Earth. "
A final point which is not expected before 2031. "That day, we will have made a very important step in Martian exploration", advance Jean-Yves Le Gall. From the start. It is hard to imagine, especially when you know that of these 41 samples, only 33 will be brought back to Earth and will weigh a total of 350 to 500 grams.
They will undoubtedly be the subject of numerous requests for studies from laboratories around the world, says astrophysicist Sylvestre Maurice, from the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (Irap - in Toulouse), who participated in the design of the SuperCam.
In search of biosignatures
"It is not so much the rocks that interest us," he says. Mars is not a planet so different from Earth. We will find there carbons, clays, and many other things that we already know here. It is much more what they contain that matters to us. Clearly: find "biosignatures", that is to say an element, a molecule which would provide scientific proof that there has been life. And this work can only be done on Earth, assures Michel Viso.
You understand, the challenge will be to have Perseverance choose the most relevant rock samples to collect. A mission that will be specifically that of eleven American and European researchers, including one French. To give yourself the best of luck, the rover will not be placed anywhere on the surface of Mars, but in the Jezero crater. The 45 km diameter site shelters an ancient delta of rivers which opened 3.5 billion years ago into a lake. The perfect place to look for traces of ancient life.
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