NASA and Space-X just successfully launched the Crew Dragon space capsule to the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX’s Dragon also marks the first time a commercial aerospace company has carried humans into Earth's orbit. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley were on this first manned launch from US soil in nine years! Congratulations to all involved!

Next, we are looking forward to the launch of the Mars 2020 Rover to Mars.

At NASA’s JPL facility, I had the pleasure of meeting Soren N. Madsen, Mars 2020 Payload System Manager and Ann Devereaux, Lead Flight System Engineer at NASA JPL/Caltech. In this photo they are standing in front of a Mars 2020 Rover model. They are two key members of an extremely talented team of engineers and scientists that are ultimately paving the way to a manned mission on Mars. (Image courtesy of Loretta Taranovich)

The Perseverance Rover is scheduled to launch sometime between July 17, 2020 and August 5, 2020. The first launch opportunity will be on July 17, 2020 at 9 AM EDT. 

I stood in front of the Mars Curiosity Rover, the one presently roaming Mars, in the Mars Yard at NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) at Caltech in Pasadena, CA. The Rover is about the size of a Humvee with an offset ‘head’ atop a mast whose ‘eye’ is the Mastcam-Z (Image courtesy of Loretta Taranovich)

Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance

Here, at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, we see the Crawler moving towards Launch Complex 41 at 1 mph. The Perseverance Rover sits in an enclosure atop an Atlas V-541 rocket. (Image courtesy of NASA)

See the simulation for Entry, descent, and landing on Mars on NASA’s website.

Perseverance instrumentation

The Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance is chock full of science instruments that will examine the geology on Mars as well as acquire information on atmosphere, environmental conditions, and possible biosignatures! (Image courtesy of NASA)

NASA has announced the actual final payload of science instruments as seen above. Here are some details about each device:

The Mastcam-Z: The Rover’s eyes

I am proud to say that James Bell was the principal investigator for this device. Bell is from the Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ right across town from where I live.

The Mastcam-Z  (The ‘Z’ is for Zoom) is a mast-mounted camera system equipped with a zoom function mounted on the ‘head’ of the Rover. Mastcam-Z cameras can zoom in, focus, and take 3D pictures and video at high speed for detailed examination of distant objects. This device helps determine which rocks might preserve signs of past life and signs of existing water or ancient water features. It can see a house-fly at a distance of the length of a soccer field!

Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)

MEDA has sensors located on the Rover’s mast ‘neck’ and on the deck, front and interior of the Rover’s body seen circled in yellow in this image. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

This device was developed by Jose A. Rodriguez Manfredi, Principal investigator, Centro de Astrobiologia, Instituto Nacional de Tecnica Aeroespacial, Madrid, Spain, and makes weather measurements of wind speed and direction, temperature and humidity, and also measures the amount and size of dust particles in the Martian atmosphere. The device can also help predict weather, measure radiation and water vapor.

Here is an instrument which is my favorite on the Rover:

Mars Oxygen ISRU [In-Situ Resource Utilization] Experiment (MOXIE)

MOXIE will produce Oxygen from the Martian atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Michael Hecht is the Principal Investigator from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He says, "When we send humans to Mars, we will want them to return safely, and to do that they need a rocket to lift off the planet. Liquid oxygen propellant is something we could make there and not have to bring with us. One idea would be to bring an empty oxygen tank and fill it up on Mars."

MOXIE collects CO₂  from the Martian atmosphere, compresses and stores it, then electrochemically splits the CO₂  molecules into O₂  and CO. The O₂  is then analyzed for purity before being vented back out to the Mars atmosphere along with the CO and other exhaust products. 

Here is a block diagram of how MOXIE works (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The CO₂ Acquisition and Compression (CAC) system will pull samples of the Martian atmosphere through a filter and pressurize it to about 1 atmosphere. The pressurized CO₂ gas will then be regulated and fed to the Solid OXide Electrolyzer (SOXE), where it will be electrochemically split at the cathode to produce pure O₂ at the anode. This essentially is a process like operating a fuel cell in reverse. 

Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL)

Abigail Allwood is the Principal Investigator at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA, USA

PIXL, mounted on the turret at the end of the robotic arm, measures the chemical makeup of rocks at a very fine scale. This instrument can detect signs of past life by examining changes in textures and chemicals in Martian rocks and soil left behind by possible ancient microbial life. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The thing that makes PIXL special is its focus on some of the tiniest features on the Mars surface. This device is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence instrument that rapidly measures elemental chemistry at sub-millimeter scales by focusing an X-ray beam to a tiny spot on the target rock or soil and analyzing the induced X-ray fluorescence.

Radar Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX)

RIMFAX gets its name from Hrimfaxi, the horse in Norse mythology who faithfully brings the night (Nott). Nott is the grandmother of Thor, the god of thunder. Hrimfaxi means “the one with rime (frost) in its mane” Its partner is Skinfaxi, the horse that brings the day (Dagr). Skinfaxi translates to “the one with the shining mane.”

RIMFAX can see geologic features under the Mars surface with its ground-penetrating RADAR (GPR).

Svein-Erik Hamran is the principal investigator from the University of Oslo, Kjeller, Norway, He says "No one knows what lies beneath the surface of Mars. Now, we'll finally be able to see what's there."

RIMFAX has an ultra-wideband design which operates from 150 MHz to 1.2 GHz. This device affords a theoretical limit of 14.2 cm for vertical (range) resolution in free-space. The device is composed of an electronics box, installed within the interior of the Rover, and a nadir-point antenna affixed to the exterior (rear) of the Rover. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

RIMFAX will also be capable of detecting water and ice or salty brines at more than 30 feet/10 meters below the surface of Mars.

RIMFAX operates over the widest possible range of radio wave frequencies (from 150 to 1200 Megahertz). With this capability, the RIMFAX team is able to select the transmission frequency based upon how deeply they want the signal to penetrate.

In the shorter wavelength mode, RIMFAX can focus on studying the materials and structures present in the upper few inches or feet of the surface.

Longer wavelength radio waves are more effective in reaching deeper into the ground than shorter wavelength radio waves and are less affected by absorption or scattering. They provide more detail than shorter wavelengths when they encounter rough surfaces. Used in longer-wavelength modes, RIMFAX can see more detail, and more deeply under the surface, than is possible at shorter wavelengths. The result is more detailed views of the structures that make up layers below the Martian surface.

Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals (SHERLOC)

SHERLOC is mounted on the robotic arm of the Rover and uses spectrometers, a laser and a camera to search for organics and minerals that have been altered by watery environments and may be signs of past microbial life.

Luther Beegle is the principal investigator from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, CA. He says "Key, driving questions are whether Mars is or was ever inhabited, and if not, why not? The SHERLOC investigation will advance the understanding of Martian geologic history and identify its past biologic potential."

SHERLOC will also carry small pieces of spacesuit material. It targets them to test its accuracy and to see how they hold up in the harsh Martian environment.

Perseverance places SHERLOC about two inches above its target to gather data. In this way, it is close, but doesn't contaminate the scene of the investigation. SHERLOC uses ultraviolet laser light to spot organic chemicals in much the same way modern crime scene investigators look for forensic clues. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

SuperCam

The SuperCam will examine rock and soil with a camera, laser and spectrometers to seek organic compounds that could be related to past life on Mars. It can identify the chemical and mineral makeup of targets as small as a pencil point from a distance of more than 20 feet (7 meters).

From more than 20 feet (approximately 7 meters) away, SuperCam can fire a laser to study rock targets smaller than a pencil point. This enables Perseverance to study spots it can't reach with its arm. (Image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The SuperCam will be able to perform Raman spectroscopy (at 532 nm to investigate targets up to 12 m distance from the Rover), Time-Resolved Fluorescence (TRF) spectroscopy, Visible and InfraRed (VISIR) reflectance spectroscopy (400 – 900 nm, 1.3 – 2.6 μm) at a distance that can give scientists information about the mineralogy and molecular structure of samples under consideration, as well as being able to search directly for organic materials.

Roger Wiens is the Principal investigator from Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, NM. He states, “SuperCam's laser is uniquely capable of remotely clearing away surface dust, giving all of its instruments a clear view of the targets.”

Stay tuned for my tech discussion of the drone ‘helicopter’ that will be on Perseverance.

I am so excited about the successful launch of the Crew Dragon and now I am really looking forward to the launch of the Perseverance Rover in July! We are back in the space business in earnest!