Mars Exploration
Perseverance
In February 2021, NASA’s Perseverance rover from the United States touched down on Mars. It was launched shortly after China’s Tianwen-1, and it went on to become the sixth rover to safely land on Mars since 1997.
Numerous advanced sensors and research tools are included with the rover. Its main objective is to search for evidence of past microbial life on Mars. In April, it conducted the first ever helicopter-drone flight outside of Earth’s atmosphere in the annals of space research.
The size of a vehicle is perseverance. It includes 19 high-resolution cameras, two microphones, and weighs about a ton. Scientists will use it to capture sound on Mars. Perseverance’s long-term objective is to get at what researchers think to be the delta of an old river that was formed during the “wet period” of Mars’ past. There, it will look for any traces of extinct life on Mars.
Chinese Zhurong
The Chinese-built Zhurong rover for Mars research has successfully landed on the planet’s surface after descending from the landing platform. The People’s Republic of China’s National Space Administration made this announcement on May 22, 2021.
The automated station Tianwen-1 is where the Chinese rover is now based on the Red Planet. Shortly later, the landing pad successfully descended to Mars. Since then, a number of activities have been carried out by the command team at the mission control center in China to test the solar panels, antenna, and sensors. Finally, Zhurong launches its scientific program with success.
The instrument is situated in the Utopia Crater, a lowland with a rounded shape and a diameter of around 3300 km in Mars’ eastern northern hemisphere. The rover is furnished with cameras, a meteorological measuring device, a surface compound detector, a ground-penetrating radar, and a magnetic field detector.
The primary research plan is set up to last for three months. The rover will keep on operating barring any serious faults. With the Zhurong rover’s accomplishment, China has overtaken the United States as the second nation to successfully send a rover to the surface of Mars. Among other things, the rover will search for indications of past or current life.
Curiosity
A 900 kilogram Boeing and Lockheed Martin rover was sent to the Red Planet by the US government on an Atlas V 541 rocket on November 26, 2011. On August 5, 2012, he sat down in Gale Crater and has since gone 23.83 km while sending around 750,000 images and terabytes of other scientific data. It was intended for Curiosity to stay on Mars for 23 months on Earth. Nevertheless, it is still in use today.
Beginning in 2021, Curiosity will have successfully operated on Mars for 3000 local days. He never stops delivering pictures from the Red Planet, which he captures using a variety of cameras, including front, rear, side, and others.
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