no doubt there will be a before and an after Perseverance. Nasa launched Thursday to March his mobile robot designed to discover the traces of ancient microbes that were covered may be on the planet three billion years ago. The rover carries also a mini-helicopter, which will attempt the first flight of a device on another planet.
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The launch by an Atlas V rocket of United Launch Alliance took place at 7: 50 a.m. from Cape Canaveral in Florida. The first stage of the rocket broke off a few minutes later, before a second thrust, since the earth's orbit, propelled Perseverance on his path in the direction of March. "It is really fantastic to be away after all the work done by this team," said after the launch Bobby Braun, a senior executive from Nasa.
If it arrives intact, on February 18, 2021, Perseverance will be only the fifth rover to make the trip since 1997. All of them are americans. China launched its first rover on mars last week, which is expected to land in may 2021. March could, therefore, have three rovers in activity next year, with the american Rover, which traveled 23 miles on the red planet since 2012.
Search for traces of life
The new rover, built at the legendary Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Nasa in Pasadena, California, is an improved version of the Rover : its six wheels are more robust, it is faster, more intelligent and can autopiloter about 200 metres per day. As large as a 4 x 4 (three meters long), it weighs a ton, has 19 cameras and two microphones, which may be the first to record sound on mars. His robotic arm, measuring two metres. A plutonium generator will recharge its batteries.
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once a good port, Nasa will attempt to fly the helicopter Ingenuity, 1.8 kg, in air the very end of March, dense as 1 % of the earth's atmosphere. The aim is to prove the feasibility of the concept. Nasa is very interested in planetary exploration by air, because rovers can travel only a few tens of kilometres in their life, and are vulnerable to sand dunes and other landforms, even if Perseverance will be able to climb obstacles high of 40 cm. A first flying drone (Dragonfly) will be sent in 2026 on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn.
The main mission of Perseverance will be to look for traces of past life on Mars, because scientists have good evidence that there are more than three billion years, the planet was warmer and covered in rivers and lakes, of ingredients that have been born, at least on Earth, of microbes... Before the red planet became cold and dry, for a reason that still escapes to the planétologues.
