07/30/2020 - 15:45
- Clarín.com
- Society
The Mars 2020 spacecraft , which is carrying a new NASA vehicle sent to explore Mars, the Perseverance , is experiencing technical problems and is keeping only its essential systems operational, the United States space agency reported.
"The data indicates that the spacecraft entered a state known as safe mode, probably because part of the spacecraft was slightly cooler than expected while ... it was in Earth's shadow," he said. NASA, which added that the mission was fully evaluating the state of the artifact.
Punctually, at 8:50 a.m., the Mars 2020 mission had taken off this Thursday for Mars , in which NASA will take the new rover space vehicle known as Perseverance to the Red Planet, in search of remains of extraterrestrial life.
The space agency will try to discover if there ever was life, either in the form of ancient fossils or in underground deposits. To widen the field of view, Ingenuity, the first helicopter adapted to fly off Earth, will also be deployed.
Look in 3D at the protagonists of the Mars 2020 mission
Perseverance is NASA's fifth rover to explore Mars for traces of life. Travel accompanied by the Ingenuity helicopter that will do flight tests on the Red Planet.
HOW TO SEE THEM IN AUGMENTED REALITY
It allows you to go through the 3D models as if you were viewing them with the camera, you can zoom in from any angle. It works on the Iphone with the current system (IOS 13 or higher). Augmented Reality is activated by touching the icon on the image.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech
After a double cancellation, the mission departed on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The mission will last, at least a year on Mars, or what is the same, 687 Earth days, during which the vehicle will travel the planet's surface after landing on the Jezero crater.
A photo provided by NASA shows engineers working with the Perseverance Mars rover on December 17, 2019 during its first test drive at the Jet Propulsion Library in Pasadena, California. The United States has an unprecedented record of success on the surface of the red planet, but NASA engineers are not resting on their laurels. (J. Krohn / NASA via The New York Times)
There it will search for traces of microbial life and try to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere. Maintaining the quadrangular shape of the previous rover, the vehicle is 3 meters long and 2.7 meters wide. It weighs 1,043 kilos (2,300 pounds).
The Argentine Raúl Romero was the Argentine who participated in the mission and gave an interview to Clarín . He is a mechanical engineer who, for 30 years, has worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.
He was born in Rosario, did elementary school in Santiago del Estero and just the year the man stepped on the Moon, his parents decided to travel to the United States to settle. He had just turned 14 years old. It was received at the University of California and currently controls the scientific instruments of the Mars 2020 mission.
Minutes after the successful launch, Romero spoke about the complexity of sending a robot to another planet, the nerves of takeoff, the preparations for each mission, but also his dreams and the family he has in Mar del Plata and Rosario.
“ This was one of the best pitches I can remember in years . There were no problems, delays or alarms. Everything went according to plan. The problem is that in Florida it always rains and at the slightest flash of lightning that crosses the sky, the mission is suspended upon further notice, "he explained.
AFG
