Even if you think you're a ninja for fitting a week's worth of clothes right into a carry-on bag, you can still learn some matters from NASA. The space agency continues to gear up for the release of its next Mars rover, which is now only over months away.
Engineers at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida started stacking the Perseverance Mars Rover and its hardware in the proper configuration. The step is all about uniting critical touchdown systems with the actual rover. Perseverance Rover's liftoff will arise during a three-week window that opens on July 17.
Percy's stacking process
The stacking process started on April 23, NASA officials said. On that day, the car-sized rover was incorporated with its "sky crane" descent stage to decrease Perseverance to the Martian floor on cables. This sci-fi-seeming approach already has one a hit touchdown under its belt - the touchdown of Perseverance's predecessor, the Mars rover Curiosity, in August 2012.
The rover is now one with its rocket-prepared descent stage and defensive returned shell, two critical additives needed to lower the automobile competently to the surface of the purple planet. The back shell also consists of the parachute as a way to help supply Perseverance a gentle landing.
"Attaching the rover to the descent stage is a major milestone for the team because these are the first spacecraft components to come together for launch, and it will be the last to [leave] when we reach Mars," David Gruel, the Perseverance rover assembly, test, and launch operations manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), said in a statement.
"These two assemblies will remain firmly nestled together until they are about 65 feet [20 meters] over the surface of Mars," Gruel added.
Another significant stacking milestone came on April 29, while the rover-sky crane pair was attached to the backshell. This conical structure consists of the mission's parachute device. The process would protect spacecraft hardware throughout the assignment's brief, fiery ride through the Martian atmosphere. The journey's heat will play a critical protecting role, of course.
Is NASA on time for their deadline?
NASA's replace method Perseverance is nonetheless on track to release as early as July with a scheduled arrival at Mars in February 2021. The rover will look for proof that Mars may also have as soon as harbored microbial life. NASA's cautious packing task will make sure it receives there accurately.
The challenge's science team has already begun working towards these diverse operations. In February, for instance, seven group individuals trekked out to a dry lakebed in Nevada with instruments similar to people who Percy carries.
The researchers practiced gathering information after receiving instructions from other challenge team contributors spread across the world, simulating the processes through which Percy might be directed to discover the Red Planet.
Such dry runs, according to NASA-JPL, is "especially important for scientists who are new to Mars rovers. "It's a team effort, and everyone has to learn how their roles fit into the whole mission," JPL's field team leader Raymond Francis said.
