Motors on
MARS The space race seems to be accelerating once more – with
Elon Musk’s recent SpaceX launch upping the ante. China,
the US and Europe are all exploring the Moon and Mars,
and planning future missions. Here, we look at some of the
emerging technologies that are involved
Since the Wright brothers rst took
to the skies of Kill Devil Hill, North
Carolina, on 17 December, 1903,
rst ights have been important
milestones in the life of any vehicle
designed for air travel. After all, it’s one
thing to design an aircraft and make it y
on paper – or computer. It is quite another
to put all the pieces together and watch
them get off the ground.
Fast forward to today and air travel of a
different dimension – the race to explore
Space. The US, Russia – and indeed the
European Union – are now taking their
interest to a whole new level, while China
has joined the fray with clear intent after
landing a spacecraft on the far side of the
moon; the rst time such a landing has
been attempted. As the battle to edge
ahead heats up, it adds extra spice to
the upcoming Mars 2020 rover mission,
a long-term robotic exploration of the
red planet. The mission, part of NASA’s
Mars Exploration Program, addresses
high-priority science goals, such as the
potential for life on Mars. The mission’s
next step will not only be seeking out signs
of habitable conditions on the planet in the
ancient past, but also searching for signs
of past microbial life itself.
CORE CHALLENGE
The Mars 2020 rover introduces a drill
that can collect core samples of the
most promising rocks and soils, and set
them aside in a ‘cache’. A future mission
could potentially return these samples to
Earth. That would help scientists study
the samples in laboratories with special
room-sized equipment that would be
too large to take to Mars. The mission
also provides opportunities to gather
knowledge and demonstrate technologies
that address the challenges of future
human expeditions to Mars. These include
testing a method for producing oxygen
from the Martian atmosphere, identifying
other resources (such as subsurface
water), improving landing techniques, and
characterising weather, dust, and other
potential environmental conditions that
could affect future astronauts living and
working on Mars.
The mission is timed for a launch
opportunity in July 2020 when Earth and
Mars are in good positions relative to
each other for landing on the planet, so it
takes less power to travel there. Landing
is scheduled for 18 February, 2021, with a
mission duration of at least One Mars Year
(about 687 Earth days). To keep mission
costs and risks as low as possible, the
Mars 2020 design is based on NASA’s
successful Mars Science Laboratory
The Mars Helicopter, a small,
autonomous rotorcraft, aims to
demonstrate the viability and
potential of heavier-than-air
vehicles on the Red Planet.
(Image credit: NASA/JPLCaltech)
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