Feb 17, 2021- It’s T-minus one day and a few hours until NASA’s Perseverance rover literally and figuratively is ready to rock on Mars. The rover is in good shape for tomorrow’s landing, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California where the mission is being managed.

The mission, called Mars 2020, launched on July 30, 2020 from Cape Canaveral in Florida for its journey to Mars.

This will be NASA’s fifth rover on the Red Planet. Landing is scheduled for 3:55 p.m. EST tomorrow. You have to think there are hundreds of engineers and scientists who are a bit nervous right now as the landing approaches.

“Perseverance is NASA’s most ambitious Mars rover mission yet, focused scientifically on finding out whether there was ever any life on Mars in the past,” Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator, said in a press release. “To answer this question, the landing team will have its hands full getting us to Jezero Crater – the most challenging Martian terrain ever targeted for a landing.”

According to NASA, Jezero is a basin where scientists believe an ancient river flowed into a lake and deposited sediments in a fan shape known as a delta. Scientists think the environment here was likely to have preserved signs of any life that gained a foothold billions of years ago. But Jezero also has steep cliffs, sand dunes, and boulder fields. Landing on Mars is difficult, according to NASA. Only about 50 percent of all previous Mars landing attempts have succeeded. The challenging geological features make it even more so.

NASA said the Perseverance team is building on lessons from previous touchdowns and employing new technologies that enable the spacecraft to target its landing site more accurately and avoid hazards autonomously.

“The Perseverance team is putting the final touches on the complex choreography required to land in Jezero Crater,” Jennifer Trosper, mission deputy project manager, said in a press release. “No Mars landing is guaranteed, but we have been preparing a decade to put this rover’s wheels down on the surface of Mars and get to work.”

Imagine working for 10 years on a project and now it’s one day away. After landing, the rover will be checked and then ready to rock on Mars. It will travel across its rocky surface, explore the landscape, and then dig through rocks to sample soil in order to analyze its chemical components.

According to NASA, the goals of this astrobiology mission are: 1) Determine whether life ever existed on Mars, 2) Characterize the climate of Mars, 3) Characterize the geology of Mars, and 4) Prepare for Human Exploration on Mars.

The rover is also carrying a helicopter, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. It will remain attached to the belly of Perseverance for the flight to Mars and the first 60 or so days on the surface. Ingenuity’s goal is a pure flight test. There are no science instruments on the helicopter.

Viewers around the world will be able to watch the drama of Perseverance’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) live on NASA TV. It’s the riskiest portion of the rover’s mission that some engineers call the “seven minutes of terror.”

Coverage starts at 2:15 p.m. EST (11:15 a.m. PST) on Feb. 18. Engineers expect to receive notice of key milestones for landing at the estimated times below. NASA points out that because of the distance the signals have to travel from Mars to Earth, these events actually take place on Mars 11 minutes, 22 seconds earlier than what is noted here.

Rock along with NASA tomorrow!

REVIEW QUESTIONS

1. What are the goals for NASA’s Mars 2020 mission?

2. How many other rovers has NASA landed on Mars?

3. What will NASA do with the helicopter that is part of the rover?

4. What are the “seven minutes of terror?”

5. How long did the rover take to travel to Mars?

INQUIRY QUESTIONS

1. How will the Mars 2020 mission help NASA prepare for human exploration on Mars?

2. Why did NASA choose the Jezero Crater area for the landing site?