NASA's Mars2020 mission is ready to go, destined to bring the fifth American rover, Perseverance, to Mars. The launch is scheduled at 13.50 on 30 July from the Cape Canaveral base (Florida) and one of the main objectives of the mission is to prepare the way for the future human exploration of the red planet. For this reason, in the rover's cargo there are new materials, designed to make the suits and helmets intended for astronauts who will walk on Mars.
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"It is the first time in its history that NASA has dedicated a mission to astrobiology," the search for life on other worlds, said NASA chief administrator Jim Bridenstine. In addition to looking for the signatures of past or present life, "the Perseverance Rover will collect samples of Martian rocks that will have to be brought to Earth by a future mission," observed mission manager Adam Steltzner, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
On board the Perseverance rover is the Sherloc (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) tool which will aim to test the samples of new materials. Those designed for suits, for example, are designed to protect astronauts from radiation, said space suit designer Amy Ross at NASA's Johnson Space Center; the transparent material for the helmet visor was instead designed to deform without breaking, in the event of collisions, and to shield the eyes from ultraviolet light.
The materials that will be tested are a sample of polycarbonate for the helmet and a mix of fire-resistant, waterproof but breathable and super-resistant fibers; on board there are also samples of Vectran and Teflon, currently used for the gloves of astronauts engaged in spacewalks.
The Mars2020 mission will also be the first that will collect samples to be brought to Earth thanks to a future mission in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). If all goes as planned, in 2026 NASA and ESA could launch a mission in which a European rover will take care of recovering the samples and loading them on an American rocket designed to release the samples into space, where an ESA probe should retrieve them and bring them to Earth in 2031.