China News Service, March 7 (Sweet) "Please call me the Perseverance." The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has officially announced the name of the 2020 Mars rover. As planned, the new member will launch into the air this summer to kick off the Red Planet adventure.

In addition to exploring Mars, what other NASA space "wish lists" in 2020? What kind of "obsession" does US President Trump have for space missions?

On March 5, local time, NASA announced that the new generation of Mars probes was officially named "Fortitude". The picture shows the "Perseverance" Mars rover displayed at the launch site.

2020, bring your name to Mars

"Perseverance" Mars is ready to go

In August 2019, NASA launched a competition to name the new generation of the 2020 Mars Rover. Recently, it finally set a name for it—the "Fortitude" from 28,000 naming applications.

The name comes from Virginia student Alexander Mather. 13-year-old Mather believes, "We will encounter many setbacks on our way to Mars. However, we can persist. We, not as a nation, but as humans, will not give up."

Thomas Zebchen, Deputy Director of the NASA Scientific Mission Council, stated that "Alexandria's application captures the spirit of exploration," "Like every previous exploration mission, our Mars rover will face challenges and it will have amazing Find."

The Martian body has several important tasks: starting from the Martian crater of Jezero, looking for signs of ancient life; collecting the first samples of Mars; testing the use of GPR instruments for the first time, studying weather science and converting carbon dioxide to oxygen .

In addition, the Mars rover also carried silicon chips with names of more than 10 million people worldwide. When it landed in February next year, these names will also be brought to Mars.

Data map: Allen Chaos is an eroded crater in the east of Mars Sailor Valley, whose surface is covered by sand dunes. Image source: NASA official website

Do scientific research and make big movies

"Decathlon" Mars rover team

Mars is the darling of planetary science and a standing option for human settlements in science fiction. In order to decipher this red planet, NASA has sent several Mars rover in recent years.

In January 2004, two identical cruisers "Courage" and "Opportunity" successfully landed on Mars.

Among them, Opportunity found evidence of the presence of non-acidic water in a clay-rich rock. Based on this finding, in the early days of Mars formation, the planetary environment may be more suitable for breeding life.

In March 2014, a self-portrait of Opportunity.

The Curiosity, equipped with advanced detection instruments, has always exceeded its mission. In 2015, Curiosity confirmed the existence of methane on Mars, and in 2018, it captured organic molecules in Martian rocks. This helped scientists prove that Mars does have "the cornerstones of life."

It also shot a lot of amazing blockbusters for people. Its latest work is a clear panorama of Mars, stitched together by more than 1,000 photos.

On March 5th, NASA released the highest-resolution panorama of Mars ever taken by the Curiosity Mars probe. Image source: NASA official website

Burning space mission

What are the NASA "Wish Lists"?

In addition to Mars exploration, NASA's space mission can be described as high investment, large scale, and more to see.

According to NASA Director Bradensteen's space plan, the overall budget for fiscal year 2021 reached $ 25.2 billion, which is the first time the United States has such a high space mission budget.

Behind the huge amount of money is NASA's space "ambition". For example, within the framework of the Artemis project, NASA will strive to make American astronauts return to the moon by 2024 at the latest.

To this end, NASA will conduct the first operational testing of all four engines of the space launch system this year, and will continue to cooperate with business partners to send the lander to the moon.

Data map: On March 3, 2019, local time, NASA announced on the mission live broadcast video that the SpaceX manned spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station. (Image taken from NASA's official website)

NASA's collaboration with space exploration technology company SpaceX is also remarkable. Both sides have successfully tested the escape system of the manned "Dragon" spacecraft. SpaceX CEO Musk revealed that after unmanned test flights in 2019, the first flight with NASA astronauts may be carried out in the second quarter of this year.

Return to the moon and form the "space force"

Trump obsessed with space

Part of NASA's "ambition" stems from Trump's support. Since taking office, Trump has made no secret of his obsession with space missions.

As early as the end of 2017, Trump had ordered American astronauts to return to the moon and eventually go to Mars. In March 2019, he announced through Vice President Pence that the astronauts would be landed on the moon in 2024 at all costs.

On the other hand, Trump stepped up his efforts to form a "space force." At the end of 2019, Trump signed the fiscal 2020 defense authorization bill and approved a $ 738 billion defense budget, which indicates that the U.S. military will formally form the sixth service "space force".

According to US Air Force Secretary Barrett, the "Space Force" includes 16,000 military and civilian personnel, all from the former Air Force Space Command.

However, there are reports that there is still a lot of uncertainty as a result of the transfer from the Air Force to the "Space Force", which involves changes in the identity of the military and the ownership of the service.

The picture shows the "Space Army" logo announced by US President Trump on social media. Image source: social media screenshot.

In addition, the "space force" logo, clothing, etc. also caused a lot of controversy. After Trump released the logo image, the design was accused of plagiarism, and some called it "Star Trek's exaggerated counterfeit."

NASA's "highlight" moments in 2019

Looking back over the past year, NASA has ushered in many big and amazing moments.

On January 1, 2019, the NASA New Horizons spacecraft flew over the "Snowman-like" "Arrokoth". For the first time, a close-up picture of the furthest celestial body detected by humans was taken and returned, codenamed "2014 MU69 ", Nicknamed" The End of the World ".

The first "Tianya Haijiao" pictures taken by New Horizons. (Image source: NASA)

In the middle of the year, NASA announced that the Transit Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) found a "super-Earth" that could have life some 31 light years away from Earth.

Local time on July 31, 2019, NASA announced that it has discovered a "super earth" that may have life. Scientists named this "super-Earth" GJ357d. (Image taken from NASA's official website)

In November, NASA announced the first global geological map of Titan, Saturn's largest satellite. According to scientists, the "Titan" has plains, lakes formed by dune formed by cold organic matter and liquid methane, and chisel marks on the surface.

And in 2020, can NASA fulfill its wish list and usher in more "high light" moments? We will wait and see. (Finish)