NASA's Perseverance Rover, the final fleat in the Mars exploration is set to land the red planet in 22 days. It will be stationed at the Jezero Crater to search for any possible signs of life that may have existed in the planet during the ancient times.
It is expected that once the spacecraft touches Mars' surface, a seven-minute duration of utter uncertainty happens. Scientists call it "The Seven minutes of terror."
As Space.com reports, the Perserverance Rover has been the most advanced rover and the largest that NASA has ever built. It will land on Mars as a robot that collects samples of rocks and dirts for analysis of any signs of life. It is set to return back to the Earth by 2030.
NASA Perseverance Rover: The Final Step in Mars Exploration
According to John McNamee the project manager for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission through a statement with CNN, "Don't let anybody tell you different -- landing on Mars is hard to do," said John McNamee, project manager for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission at JPL.
"But the women and men on this team are the best in the world at what they do. When our spacecraft hits the top of the Mars atmosphere at about three-and-a-half miles per second, we'll be ready.", he adds.
Scientists also preserve the "purity" of Perseverance so that it does not contaminate the collected Martian rocks and dirts from any Microbes that come from Earth which risks of providing an inaccurate reading. In February 18, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be launching a live coverage for public viewing. Perseverance is the final step for the Mars exploration. The mission has been built from numerous experiences from previous missions in the past.
Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate says "NASA has been exploring Mars since Mariner 4 performed a flyby in July of 1965, with two more flybys, seven successful orbiters, and eight landers since then."
"Perseverance, which was built from the collective knowledge gleaned from such trailblazers, has the opportunity to not only expand our knowledge of the Red Planet, but to investigate one of the most important and exciting questions of humanity about the origin of life both on Earth and also on other planets.", he adds.
Read more: Space Probe Finds Mars has a Chandler Wobble similar to Earth
The Seven Minutes of Terror
According to NASA Perseverance only has about 25.6 million miles available for its 292.5 million-mile journey from Earth to Mars. Once it arrives at the red planet, the seven minutes of terror begins. Cameras and microphones will be capturing this daunting experience from the spacecraft.
The duration of light time it takes to travel from Earth back to Mars lasts about 10.5 minutes. Thus, the seven-minute landing time would mean Earth could not reach signals from Mars yet. Consequently, Perseverance will not receive any help or communication from NASA in any way.
As Allen Chen, landing lead at JPL notes, "It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most critical and dangerous part of the mission."
Moreover Zurbuchen admits that "It is not guaranteed that we will be successful."
However, NASA is doing everything they can to prepare the mission to its best ability. As of now, NASA is persistent that the heaviest rove NASA has ever attempted will be pursuing the journey in 22 days. No matter how huge the risk is, it definitely is a calculated one- fueled by determination ' to complete the Mars exploration journey. Nonetheless, NASA is ready to defy all odds in the name of Science and humanity.
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Written by Nikki D
