With the Mars exploration season returning every two years, the UAE’s Mars probe’Amal’ and China’s Mars probe’Tianwon 1’enter the orbit of Mars one after another, drawing attention from around the world. In the early morning of the 19th, NASA’s Perservation Rover succeeded in landing on Mars, and the heat is expected to rise further.
In response, the National Gwacheon Science Museum launched an online talk show’Why Come Back? Mars’ was held and attracted attention.
Dr. Yoo Man-seon (left) and researcher In-seon Ahn of the National Gwacheon Science Museum as host © Gwacheon Science Museum YouTube capture
This talk show, which was broadcast in real time through the YouTube channel of the Gwacheon Science Museum, was jointly hosted by In-Sun Ahn and Dr. Man-Sun Yoo, and gave various lectures by domestic and foreign experts.
First, Dr. Manseon Yoo introduced the’Seven Minutes of Horror’ experienced by Perseverance Rover based on NASA’s simulation images and local transmission photos to Mars. This is a detailed step-by-step explanation of the process of about 7 minutes before landing on the surface by enduring the frictional heat of 1600℃ while entering the atmosphere of Mars at a speed 6 times faster than a bullet.
A video that introduces the process of entering, descending, and landing the Personality Rover. © Gwacheon Science Museum YouTube capture
On this day, the broadcast was watched by 300 real-time users and 3,000 afterwards. In addition, while streaming, viewers showed off their knowledge as expert through real-time chat, which gave a sense of the public’s interest in the exploration of Mars.
What NASA is looking for on Mars
Subsequently, an invited lecture by Professor Paul Yoon of El Camino University, an ambassador for the solar system of NASA, was held. Prof. Yoon, who also participated in the selection of candidates for landing of the Perservance, introduced NASA’s purpose of exploring Mars. In particular, Perseverance Rover explained that he focused on finding’traces of life on Mars’. To this end, the weight was increased by 14% compared to the previous work, Curiosity Rover, and 1.5 times more exploration equipment was installed.
NASA Solar System Ambassador Paul Yun gave a lecture on Mars exploration. © Gwacheon Science Museum YouTube capture
The current Mars environment is very barren and life is unlikely to exist. However, the existence of liquid water in the lowlands of ancient Mars may have once inhabited life. That’s why NASA’s Mars rovers land mainly in the lowlands of the northern hemisphere of Mars. ‘Jezero Crater’, the landing site of the Perservance, was also selected in consideration of the possibility of finding traces of ancient life as a sedimentary terrain along the shore of the lake where water flowed in the past.
According to Professor Yoon, NASA is pursuing the’Mars Sample Return’ mission to bring Mars soil samples to Earth. It plans to store samples collected by Perservation Rover in titanium capsules and recover them using another rover scheduled to launch in 2026. Samples launched by small rockets are then recovered by a probe waiting in orbit on Mars and returned to Earth around 2031.
NASA’s Mars Landing History and Roadmap. © NASA
Professor Paul Yun said that NASA’s primary exploration goal is to find’alien life’. This is because if you discover traces of extraterrestrial life, you can open a new horizon in the history of science. And in the 2030s and 2040s, it plans to send a manned Mars probe to leave human footprints on a planet other than Earth for the first time.
Our country goes to the moon
The next guest lecturer, Chae-kyung Shim, a senior researcher at the Korea Astronomical Research Institute, introduced Korea’s lunar exploration plan following the explanation of the Mars exploration equipment mounted on the Perseverance Rover. The’Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO)’, which will be launched around August 2022, is expected to be the first attempt.
KPLO will fly for 4 months after launch with SpaceX’s rocket to reach the lunar orbit, and perform observations on the lunar surface for about a year.
Dr. Shim Chae-kyung introduces Korea’s lunar exploration plans. © Gwacheon Science Museum YouTube capture
The Korea Astronomical Research Institute is working with the Korea Aerospace Research Institute and NASA to develop six lunar exploration equipment to be mounted on KPLO. Among them, Dr. Shim Chae-kyung, a planetary scientist, is participating in the development of a polarizing camera (PolCam) that can analyze lunar soil characteristics.
In addition, there is a movement to jointly participate in the’Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS)’ promoted by NASA. CLPS is a new concept lunar exploration project using a lunar lander of a private space company.
Korea plans to send four independently-developed payloads to the moon through CLPS, but it has yet to be confirmed.
Observation equipment to be mounted on KPLO. © Korea Astronomical Research Institute / Shim Chae-kyung
As experts explained in detail about NASA’s Mars exploration and South Korea’s lunar exploration plan, the latecomer, viewers’ reaction was hot. In the middle of the broadcast, we had time to communicate with quiz solving.
Viewers who have subscribed to the Gwacheon Science Museum’s YouTube channel have expressed their anticipation for the On-Tact science lecture through real-time chat, saying, “It’s an all-time class” and “I look forward to more lectures like this in the future.”
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