American Mars exploration rover “Perseverance” successfully landed on Mars and set out on a mission to find traces of life on the “Red Planet.”
NASA’s fifth Mars exploration rover Perservation settled in Jezero Crater, which is believed to be the ancient delta of Mars on the 18th (local time), the Associated Press reported.
After launching on July 30 last year, Perseverance flew 475 million kilometers to reach Mars.
NASA reported that Perseverance passed through the pale orange Mars atmosphere and passed through the most dangerous missions.
The process of entering, descending, and landing (EDL) on Mars’ atmosphere is the most demanding and high-risk flight of Perservance, which is called ‘7 minutes of fear.
Due to the long distance between Mars and Earth, the Mars settlement signal sent by Perservance to the NASA control station reached Earth 11 minutes and 30 seconds after landing.
Perseverance will be tasked with finding traces of ancient life that may have existed on Mars and collecting soil and rock samples to bring to Earth.
As an example of where Perservance landed, the crater is estimated to be the delta where the river flowed from 3 to 4 billion years ago, and it is expected that traces of organic molecules and other microorganisms can be found.
Equipped with equipment that can find organic matter and analyze rocks and soil components, Perseverance collects soil and rock samples, puts them in dozens of titanium tubes, and stores them in a promised place on Mars.
The samples will be collected by another rover that will be launched later, delivered to another spacecraft, and sent to Earth in 2031. On Earth, samples are analyzed with equipment such as a high-performance microscope to study the existence of life.
Along with this, Perservance will be tasked with preparing for a manned expedition to Mars.
The 1.8 kg small helicopter’Ingenuity’, which was loaded with the Perseverance, attempts the first power flight on Mars.
It also conducts experiments to see if oxygen can be extracted from Mars’ atmosphere and used for rocket propulsion fuel and breathing.
The United States is planning a manned expedition to Mars in the coming 2030s.
The perspective is the size of a car with a length of 3 m and has six wheels, and is equipped with high-performance equipment such as a camera, microphone, laser, and drill.
It is the largest and most sophisticated NASA Mars rover to date.
(Photo = Yonhap News)