“Ticket to Mars, photo taken on Mars” burns enthusiasm for space exploration

“In the past, when news related to space came out,’the United States’,’China’, and so on,’country’ appeared as the subject. But now, the subject has changed like’Space X’. The subject of the space industry is’ It is the’Newspace era’ that has passed from’national’ to’private’. It is an era in which anyone interested can connect and contribute to the’space’ industry.”

Dr. Lim Seok-hee, a future projectile research group at the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, said that in the’New Space era’, you can work in the space industry without studying space and aviation. This is because there are many opportunities as various fields are being grafted into the space industry.

The space industry needs’all fields’. For example, the moon was designated as a common space for humanity by the’moon treaty’, but detailed laws and regulations are needed. That’s why lawyers who majored in law are needed. If you do asteroid mining, the shares of the company you mine will increase. Equity experts are also needed to assess the asteroid’s capital value. In addition, various technologies such as AI, 3D printing, VR, AR, and computer engineering are needed for space exploration and are being connected to industries.

In the’New Space Era’, countries and private companies from all over the world are actively entering the space industry. At this year’s CES, a discussion session was held to discuss the future of the’space industry’ by inviting astronauts. In recent years, with the successful landing of Percivirence Rover on Mars, the heat of exploration on Mars is also hot. In line with this atmosphere, this year’s first Science Slam D event took place on the 18th with the theme of’space’.

At this event, NASA Ambassador Paul Yoon and a professor of mathematics at El Camino University in the United States gave a special appearance and gave a lecture on NASA’s exploration of Mars. Slam D’s lecturers included researcher Lee Ju-rim working at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Research Institute (JPL), Dr. Seok-hee Lim, Ph.D., Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Ph.

◆ Let’s take a picture of “Click on Mars”

Professor Paul Yoon introduced the’Send your name to Mars’ program, which makes a ticket to Mars when you enter your name, and the’Mars photo Booth’ program, where you can leave wonderful pictures of Mars. Anyone can easily get a ticket to Hwaseong by searching for the above keyword on Google, and also take a picture with Mars or the NASA control room in the background.

It also explained the Martian environment that Percivirence is currently exploring. “Mars’ atmosphere is only about 1% of the Earth,” he said. “Dangerous radiation from space penetrates through the thin Martian atmosphere,” he said. Radiation exposure is an area of ​​special attention when exploring Mars. Takeoff and landing are also difficult because the atmosphere is thin. When the spacecraft lands, its speed does not decrease rapidly, and it is difficult to fly from above.

Also, Mars’ gravity is only 38% of the Earth. Professor Paul Yoon explained, “If you launch a spacecraft from Mars, there is an advantage that you can use less propellant because the gravity is weak.” Mars needs a propellant to send Martian soil to Earth. If Percivirence collects samples of Martian soil, it is expected to bring them to Earth in 2026. At this time, the fuel for’passing’ the soil sample into a spacecraft is made by converting carbon dioxide from Mars’ atmosphere into oxygen.

Professor Paul Yoon said, “The soil collected by Percivirence will be studied by future scientists. Therefore, it is important to instill dreams of exploring Mars for children from now on and encourage them to participate in Mars exploration.” NASA said that the name of the exploration rover was decided by a’competition’ to the students.” The name’Persivirance’ was coined by Alex Mate, a first-year middle school student in the United States. Alex proposed a name meaning indomitable will.

◆ ‘7 minutes of horror’ watched by everyone holding their breath

Researcher Joo-rim Lee, who works at NASA JPL, vividly shared his experience watching Insight Mars landing in 2018. He recalled the scene, saying, “The mission control room, which was busy all morning, suddenly became quiet.” It’s ‘7 minutes of fear’. It takes about 7 minutes for the probe to enter, descend, and land, and it takes about 7 minutes to signal a successful landing to Earth. “After 7 minutes of horror started, I couldn’t even hear breathing except for my colleagues reading communication data. Waiting for touchdown confirmation. Touchdown confirmation! Even now, two years later, when I see this scene, both hands rise by themselves,” he said. .

NASA has 10 affiliated research centers, and JPL researches, develops, and operates unmanned space probes. This researcher is part of the’navigation team’ within the JPL Lab. “The navigation team is the team that acts as the GPS of the space probe. We study how to get to the destination in the fastest way with the least amount of fuel,” he said.

For example, suppose you are designing the orbit of the Cassini spacecraft that went to explore Saturn. Numerous scientists are asking where they want to observe Saturn’s’where’. The navigation team plans a trajectory that will satisfy the needs of as many scientists as possible within Cassini’s fuel limits.

To track and communicate with the probe, NASA has built a’deep space communication network’. “The deep space communication network was built by placing antennas with a diameter of about 70m or 34m at a distance of 120 degrees from the earth,” he explained. “It was designed so that communication with the spacecraft is always possible even if the earth rotates.” Using this, the navigation team compares the designed trajectory with the current trajectory, studies how and when to use thrusters, and redesigns the trajectory.

◆ Asteroid, space particle observation, and drones

Dr. Myung-Jin Kim is a researcher at the Korea Astronomical Research Institute. At Cheonmunyeon, the asteroid’Apophis’, which is preparing for exploration with the goal of 2029, has recently been observed passing by. Dr. Kim explained the characteristics of asteroid research, saying, “I will explain three reasons why asteroids are’Insa’ rather than’Okay.’

He compared the asteroid to a fossil, saying, “The asteroid has material that was present when the solar system was first created.” In addition, asteroids pose a threat to the planet, but they also highlight their potential as a future resource. “Luxembourg, a small country in Europe, is ready for the government to step up and explore’asteroids’ resources as an industry of the future.”

Dr. So Joong-ho, IBS, gave a lecture on the subject of’observation’. Dr. So compared observing space and discovering new facts to a boyfriend who answers his girlfriend’s “Is there anything different today?” He introduced, “The particles that the Underground Experimental Research Group cares about as much as their girlfriend are’WIMP’ and’neutrinos (neutrino)’,” he said. “It goes through a process that is quite similar to the process of discovering changes in your girlfriend, such as grasping them.” The only difference is that instead of love and interest in girlfriend,’appropriate experimental environment and detector performance’ is required.

Because of this, IBS created a laboratory deep underground. It is the Yangyang underground laboratory, which has penetrated about 600m underground, and the Jeongseon underground laboratory with a depth of 1000m below Mt. Yemi. After creating an appropriate experimental environment, create a’detector’. And through observation, you can see where each particle and signal came from. Dr. So said, “There is a coincidence of the poet La Tae-ju. Knowing the name makes you a neighbor, if you know the color, you become a friend, and if you know the shape, you become a lover. We are looking at colors to become friends of the particles we want to observe. Ended the lecture, saying, “I want to stand on the lecture again on the day I become a lover after knowing the shape of the lover.”

ETRI Dr. Ahn Jae-young, who was the last speaker, gave a lecture on’autonomous drones’. Drones are one of the fields that are likely to be actively used in the space industry in the future. Dr. Ahn said, “Drones not only move but also perform various tasks and missions, so another axis of’mission performance’ is needed. For this reason, drones are used as’manual mission performance’,’automatic mission performance’, and’autonomous mission execution’. I can distinguish the development of,” he explained.

Dr. Ahn introduced a drone that can be used in a security site as an example of a drone’s mission. As violence or accidents may occur in the process of police going to the scene and correcting the incident, drones play a role in collecting and supporting evidence.

In addition, drones for automated control of agriculture were also introduced. He said, “The most market for drones in the United States is agriculture,” he said. “In the future, the market is expected to grow in Korea.” In the future, he emphasized, “The potential for drone growth is endless with cooperating drones, shape change, physical interaction drones, biomimetic drones, personal portable drones, urban air mobility, etc.”

This Science Slam D was held at the Milky Way Hall of the Korea Astronomical Research Institute from 7 pm to 9 pm on the 18th. Due to Corona 19, it was conducted in a non-face-to-face online broadcast. In its fourth year this year, Science Slam D has undergone several changes. A big theme is selected for each episode, and the theme of the first episode in March was’Space’. In addition, after the lecture was over, we introduced a’quiz’ that proceeds through the app.

Science Slam D can be viewed again by searching for’Science Slam D’on Naver’s ’10 Minute Science Talk’ YouTube. From this year, it is expected to be provided as an official educational video by signing an agreement with the Office of Education. Science Slam D is hosted by IBS, Daedeok Net, Daejeon MBC, and National Science and Technology Research Association.