The Perseverance Rover landed on Mars on February 18, 2021, with the world watching via livestream. After being guided through the Martian atmosphere, the Mars 2020 spacecraft deposited the rover on the planet for its investigative mission.
The journey to Mars took around six and a half months. It was a 300-million-mile expedition launched on July 30, 2020, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The plan was for the rover to roam the Jezero Crater for around 687 days, or one Mars year, to discover ancient microbial life through biosignatures.
Former NASA operations ascertained that Mars once had running water in warmer climates before it became a tundra. Nineteen cameras document Mars’s landscape, while several microphones furnish the rover for audio recording.
The Innovative, Mission-Critical Technology Making the Expedition Possible
The Mars 2020 Spacecraft design, which delivered the Perseverance Rover to Mars, is based on the successful 2012 Curiosity Rover mission.
NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover Equipped with Ultra-Clean Sample Tubes
Video Credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Perseverance’s sophisticated instruments detect organic material and scan rocks and sediment to discover their chemical composition. The rover utilizes a unique drilling arm to collect samples stored in specially designed chambers free of even the most minuscule contaminants to maintain their purity.
These samples will return to Earth during a future mission to be further examined. Their analysis will provide a greater depth of knowledge about the planet than humanity has ever been able to grasp.
Image Credit: Dima Zel/Shutterstock.com
The next step in the Perseverance mission will involve launching the Mars helicopter, Ingenuity. This mission will see test flights conducted on another planet for the first time in history.
Protection of Critical Operations
Technetics provided the BELFAB® edge-welded metal bellows, which protect the Perseverance drilling arm used for soil and rock sample collection. Similarly to the 2012 Curiosity mission, these bellows must operate in incredibly severe conditions, including temperatures ranging from -328 to 536 °F.
Technetics also provides static and dynamic metal seals, K-port seals, Qualiseal mechanical seals, SAFE-SHEAR® burst discs, and Feltmetal® acoustic media for use in critical equipment in the space industry.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Technetics Group.
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