Space travel: Mars rover is supposed to search for traces of life

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As is well known, the universe is pretty big - and it takes time to get from one point to another.

For our neighboring planet Mars, this means that the journey from Earth to Mars took almost seven months.

In the summer of 2020, an American vehicle called the “Perseverance” set out on a journey to the red planet.

But even in space it applies: Even the longest journey comes to an end.

The rover is scheduled to land on Mars on Thursday evening.

The engineers at the US space agency Nasa have been waiting for this evening for more than half a year.

And now, of all things, during the most exciting moment of the mission, they are powerless - because there is nothing more they can do.

"Everything will take place autonomously: entry into the Martian atmosphere, descent and landing," hopes Matt Wallace, deputy manager of the Perseverance program at NASA.

Because a radio command to Mars would be ten minutes away.

However, only seven minutes will pass between the ingress of the atmosphere and the impact on the surface.

"So we cannot communicate with the probe during this time," adds Wallace.

You have to decide for yourself when the parachute should deploy.

"And after landing, she has to tell us exactly where she is in the Jezero crater."

The landing place

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Nasa chose the dust-red Jezero crater because it used to be - around four billion years ago - it was probably once full of water.

This rock formation is almost 50 kilometers in size.

And where there was water, there was life - at least that is the hope of many astrobiologists.

"But we are unlikely to come across such traces of former life directly on the surface," speculates Jim Watzin, director of NASA's Mars exploration program in Washington, DC. "The living conditions there are probably too harsh."

Most astrobiologists have since given up hope of finding life on Earth's neighboring planet today.

But maybe there was microbial life on Mars earlier - below.

"Life on Mars could take place underground or in such small amounts that we have not yet discovered it with our measuring instruments," says Michael Meyer, the chief scientist of the Mars exploration program.

At the end of the two-meter-long robotic arm of “Perseverance” is PIXL - the Planetary Instrument for X-Ray Lithochemistry.

This instrument - about the size of a tablet computer - is supposed to penetrate the Martian rock with a fine laser.

There it can track down chemical waste products from biological processes;

powdery substances, down to the size of a single grain of salt.

If it encounters something unusual, the corresponding piece of rock becomes a hot candidate for transport to Earth.

Source: dpa infographic, infographic WORLD

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At the end of its robotic arm, “Perseverance” also carries a drill.

It should penetrate up to two meters deep into the ground.

"We hope that he will loosen a massive piece of rock there that we can later transport to earth," explains Bruno Gardini from the European space research center Estec in Noordwijk, Holland.

And “Perseverance” won't just drill once.

The rover will stop 20, 30 or 40 times and try to get rock samples from deeper layers.

"We now know where Mars used to be habitable," emphasizes Jim Watzin.

“Our rover is supposed to go exactly there - to former hydrothermal springs and dried up river beds.

There he will drill.

Because we absolutely want to get samples from below the surface. "

And then the samples have to be stowed and stored somewhere and somehow.

“We don't just drop them in a basket,” says Watzin.

“Rather, we insulate them in small tubes made of titanium.” These tubes are about as thick and as long as a cigar.

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Once the sample has been taken successfully, you have to wait - until the next mission arrives on Mars.

Because the Europeans want to contribute a second, smaller rover to this so-called Mars Sample Return Mission.

It is supposed to start in five years, collect the samples from "Perseverance" and drive them to a rocket.

By then, the Americans will have shot them to Mars.

She will return to earth with the precious cargo

“The approach of dividing this return of samples from Mars into three missions reduces the risk that we would have if we were to play everything on one card,” says Gerhard Kminek, the planetary protection officer at Europe's space agency Esa.

Whether a return of Mars rocks is really worthwhile will only be shown during the investigations on Earth.

In the best case scenario, the end result is a sensation - namely, the realization that there is or has been life on two planets in the solar system.

Sightseeing flight by helicopter

Even regardless of its past as a lake, the Jezero crater is interesting for NASA.

Because it seems to be an ideal area for a helicopter tour.

It would be a very different kind of exploration of Mars.

"For the first time, our Mars helicopter will perform flights in the atmosphere of another planet," says MiMi Aung from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

"We have never let a rotor-powered aircraft fly over the surface of another celestial body."

This is what it could look like when the helicopter explores Mars

Source: NASA / JPL-Caltech

The scientist helped develop and test the Mars helicopter at JPL.

“We are thus expanding our previous exploration of space with probes in orbits and rovers on the ground, now with a view from the air.” The scientists want to know whether probes with rotors can really be used for research flights in later missions.

You could then fly over parched sea beds like Jezero Crater and examine them from a bird's eye view.

In their test laboratories in California, the engineers were able to observe the helicopter's flight behavior in real time.

Because of the time lag, that won't work on Mars.

Rather, the helicopter will be on its own while in the air.

Nobody will control the helicopter remotely from Earth.

The software on board must scan the terrain at lightning speed and initiate appropriate flight maneuvers.

It's just a test at first, but it has potential for future helicopter missions on other celestial bodies.

"There are places that are difficult or even impossible to explore for rovers or even humans," explains Håvard Grip.

The engineer is responsible for flight control and aerodynamics of the Mars helicopter at JPL.

"Helicopters are much more mobile and can explore places that otherwise we would not be able to reach and not see."

This drone for Mars will neither rise particularly high nor fly appreciably far.

But JPL scientist Aung predicts a great future for this technology.

“As soon as humans begin exploring Mars, it becomes important to get high-resolution images of the site in advance;

over many kilometers before the astronauts step on it. ”A helicopter can examine rock formations that humans would otherwise not have access to, such as steep rock faces or the interior of volcanoes.