Mars 2021 Trio Of Missions

GDB · Thu Feb 11, 2021 4:23 pm

This month sees the arrival of three missions to the Red Planet, by three different agencies, earlier this week the UAE orbiter and their first planetary mission, completed it's braking to orbit Mars;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-55998848

Followed a day later by China's first mission to this planet, a few months hence, all being well, it will deploy a rover to the surface;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56013041

Next week should see the NASA/JPL Perseverance Rover barrel in for it's landing and if successful, the largest, most sophisticated rover yet, complete with microcopter.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

It's going to be a busy year at Mars, especially if Perseverance succeeds in the same way as it's predecessor did in 2012.

Tugger · Tue Feb 16, 2021 4:43 pm

Wow, so no one seems to care? I guess the "big dog" is Perseverance (with Ingenuity) but the first two have arrived apparently safely and fully functional, which is fantastic!

Regarding Perseverance, I know NASA is starting coverage on Thursday at 11:15a PST/2:15p EST. Does anyone know the approximate time it is supposed to be down and landed?

Tugg

bikerthai · Tue Feb 16, 2021 5:22 pm

I'm peeking but no comment so far.

GDB · Tue Feb 16, 2021 6:22 pm

Tugger wrote:
Wow, so no one seems to care? I guess the "big dog" is Perseverance (with Ingenuity) but the first two have arrived apparently safely and fully functional, which is fantastic!

Regarding Perseverance, I know NASA is starting coverage on Thursday at 11:15a PST/2:15p EST. Does anyone know the approximate time it is supposed to be down and landed?

Tugg

Well they call it '7 minutes of terror', though in reality I'd think an hour or two prior to interface with the Martian atmosphere, 2 days and 2 hours at time of writing, so here in the UK I'd start streaming two days from now, around this time.
With anticipation and some fear, (when this landing system was first mooted for Curiosity, I did wonder if a latter day follower of Timothy Leary had carried the late 'gurus' threat and poured LSD into the water supply, at least for JPL).
But JPL aced it, Mars is always extra hard compared to say the Moon but their record since that bad year of 1999 is really a long time ago and not just in years.

Agree on UAE, the probe will of course have had US and some Indian input, (the latter sent one to Mars at the same cost as a Hollywood blockbuster), and it was launched by a Japanese booster, still a remarkable achievement for them.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emirates_Mars_Mission

China's exploration missions have come a long way in a short time, I doubt if they will stream their rover's landing live, maybe with a short delay.
If it makes it down and good luck to it, they likely will be live when it starts operating.

mxaxai · Wed Feb 17, 2021 1:37 pm

Tugger wrote:
Wow, so no one seems to care? I guess the "big dog" is Perseverance (with Ingenuity) but the first two have arrived apparently safely and fully functional, which is fantastic!

Regarding Perseverance, I know NASA is starting coverage on Thursday at 11:15a PST/2:15p EST. Does anyone know the approximate time it is supposed to be down and landed?

Tugg

Per https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8860/nasas-n ... nding-yet/
the touchdown message is expected at 3:55p EST / 12:55p PST (which is 20:55 UTC I believe), with atmospheric entry 7 minutes prior. The actual touchdown is 11 minutes 22 seconds earlier due to the signal delay.

But they also warn that telemetry might not be available in real-time, so a lack of messages does not necessarily indicate a landing failure.

mxaxai · Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:57 pm

And successful touchdown of MRL / Perseverance is confirmed!

GDB · Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:04 pm

That was tense, following the stream! But they nailed it, pics coming back.
Congrats NASA/JPL.
'Dare Mighty Things'. Including putting this beast on Mars.

flyingturtle · Thu Feb 18, 2021 9:55 pm

Wow! Hooray!

Say welcome to our new a.nut subforum "Helicopters on Mars"!

Mortyman · Thu Feb 18, 2021 10:49 pm

The Norwegian-developed radar Rimfax is one of the seven instruments that have been placed on board. The radar has been developed together with FFI ( The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment ) , the Norwegian Space Center and a number of Norwegian companies. Space has also been found for the first time for an unmanned helicopter, which will be controlled by NTNU ( Norwegian University of Science and Technology )-trained civil engineer Håvard Fjær Grip and his team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Los Angeles.

Francoflier · Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:46 am

What an achievement for NASA, JPL and the Perseverance team. Fantastic job.

Who would have thought that the most ludicrously complex and hair raising landing maneuver straight from a science fiction movie would turn out to be one of the most successful way to get to Mars...

The engineers who first proposed the sky crane solution must have faced a few raised eyebrows during that meeting.

Tugger · Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:38 pm

Congratulations NASA and all the team and nations that combined to make this even possible and a reality!

I honestly can't wait to see the video they get from the entry and landing an experience. They added a bunch of cameras and audio tools to capture at least some of it. Of course now they have a lot to do getting systems tested and checked and masts raised and wheels moving.

Good job but I will also say good luck NASA!

Tugg

Tugger · Fri Feb 19, 2021 10:29 pm

Amazing pictures:

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8866/nasas-p ... s-landing/

Tugg

Tugger · Sat Feb 20, 2021 6:13 am

I'm not trying to bump this but I just have to add the picture made me think: Look Ma,no hands!

I know, cheezy but I HAD to say it.

Tugg

bikerthai · Sat Feb 20, 2021 4:50 pm

It was bungie jumping!

bt

Tugger · Mon Feb 22, 2021 9:46 pm

Incredible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg

Tugg

CRJockey · Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:26 pm

Tugger wrote:
Incredible!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg

Tugg

Absolutely amazing.

GDB · Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:37 pm

A dazzling example of engineering and exploration, captured in footage that ranks as some of the greatest in the history of spaceflight.

FGITD · Tue Feb 23, 2021 1:30 am

Amazing!

I think NASA is finally realizing the value of PR, at long last.

The skycrane method really seems like someone wondered what the most thrilling way to land on Mars would be. Rocket powered crane that lowers a car size rover? Sounds crazy enough!

DIRECTFLT · Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:00 am

The NASA team goes into a detailed discussion of the landing with video and pictures:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYQwuYZbA6o

mxaxai · Tue Feb 23, 2021 6:00 am

The sky crane just sitting there in the sky looks so silly and yet so amazing. Like someone forgot to turn on gravity.

Francoflier · Tue Feb 23, 2021 7:52 am

Here's the landing video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czjS9h4Fpg

Just amazing.

GDB · Tue Feb 23, 2021 12:45 pm

Not a message in a bottle, more like a parachute;
https://www.theguardian.com/science/202 ... -parachute

Surprised to hear the chutes were developed in Tiverton, a town in a largely rural part of the UK, not a better known high-tech/aerospace hub;
https://www.heathcoat.co.uk/perseverance-landing/

Tugger · Wed Feb 24, 2021 7:30 pm

"Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure ... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat."

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/world/ma ... index.html

Tugg

MadAstronaut · Thu Feb 25, 2021 4:11 pm

Congrats to everyone! 2021 starts well enough. I'm glad that lockdown didn't prevent space agencies from achieving their aim and making another contribution to Mars exploration. The number of instruments these rovers use lets us obtain more detailed information about its climate, soil, radiation level, etc. I think that all community of space enthusiasts will remember this month and this year forever.

Tugger · Sun Feb 28, 2021 6:12 am

The more I read about Perseverance and the other various craft exploring Mars the more I have come to respect and believe that the most important and greatest of them is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

This craft has been orbiting and working hard for 15 years! That is incredible when you think about that alone. but then to realize that it is and has been the linchpin for many other missions... it is an unsung hero for much of Mars exploration in the new century.

I will note that China is doing their own version which is why they are doing their lander the way they are. There must be a strong orbiting partner or anything on the planet is just a lonely wandering robot with no way to "phone home". I wish them good fortune with their endevor but again doff my cap to the MRO.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars-exploration/ ... e-orbiter/

Thank you for 15 years of service. And still going strong.

Tugg

Nomadd · Sun Feb 28, 2021 6:32 am

Mars Odyssey will hit 20 years in a few months.
Mars Express is almost 18.

DIRECTFLT · Sat Mar 06, 2021 3:40 pm

New images from the Perseverance Rover:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnqkcXatkro

bajs11 · Thu Apr 15, 2021 12:18 pm

The first flight of Ingenuity has been delayed
https://mars.nasa.gov/technology/helico ... t-on-mars/

Our best estimate of a targeted flight date is fluid right now, but we are working toward achieving these milestones and will set a flight date next week.

imo this flight if succeeds will probably be as historically significant as the first flight of the first jet powered aircraft

bikerthai · Thu Apr 15, 2021 4:16 pm

bajs11 wrote:
historically significant as the first flight of the first jet powered aircraft

Wright brother first powered flight is well known.
First manned landing is well known.

First probe on the moon, not so well known.
First jet powered aircraft flight - Nazi Germany?

You will probably right. Few will remember this flight 50 years from now.

bt

bajs11 · Fri Apr 16, 2021 7:58 pm

bikerthai wrote:
bajs11 wrote:
historically significant as the first flight of the first jet powered aircraft

You will probably right. Few will remember this flight 50 years from now.

bt

or the first flight of a man-made object on another planet
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vega_program

Hopefully Perseverance will be able to pull off the first powered flight.
there is an excellent video explaining the challenges of flying on Mars:
https://youtu.be/GhsZUZmJvaM

Armadillo1 · Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:53 am

so today is the day of martian aviation?

GDB · Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:42 pm

Success! First initial test flight/hover!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm8HBIHdfOY&t=277s

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56799755

A few grams from the Wright Flyer 1 is on Ingenuity, so with that in mind and using the most advanced comms they had back then;
SUCCESS/FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING/ALL AGAINST TWENTY-ONE MILE WIND/STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENOUGH ENGINE POWER ALONE/AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTY ONE MILES/LONGEST FLIGHT FIFTY-NINE SECONDS/INFORM PRESS/HOME CHRISTMAS.
Telegram to the Rev. Milton Wright, from Kitty Hawk N.C., December 17. 1903.

flyingturtle · Mon Apr 19, 2021 12:51 pm

Yay! It's amazing how confident the engineers have grown, after Pathfinder, Sojourner and other rovers.

Now it's time for new a subforum, "Extraterrestrial Aviation"...

Okie · Mon Apr 19, 2021 2:04 pm

GDB wrote:
Success! First initial test flight/hover!

That is not Wright. :roll:

Okie

WIederling · Mon Apr 19, 2021 3:33 pm

flyingturtle wrote:
Yay! It's amazing how confident the engineers have grown, after Pathfinder, Sojourner and other rovers.

Now it's time for new a subforum, "Extraterrestrial Aviation"...

Chopper on Mars, quite the achievement.

Venus could enable Zeppelins or "floating islands" at around the 1000mBar level.
ref: http://www.shadetreephysics.com/vel/1918vpt.htm

( funny thing all the Sol system bodies have
a "reasonable environment" at that pressure.)

GDB · Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:10 pm

Second Ingenuity flight and of potentially even greater significance, the initial tests of the Moxie experiment has been successful in oxygen generation;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-56849723

MadAstronaut · Wed Apr 28, 2021 12:12 pm

On April 25, Ingenuity took its third flight. The altitude was the same, but the speed and distance significantly increased.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-flies-faster-farther-on-third-flight

GDB · Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:04 pm

MadAstronaut wrote:
On April 25, Ingenuity took its third flight. The altitude was the same, but the speed and distance significantly increased.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-flies-faster-farther-on-third-flight

Yes, covered the length of a (presumably US) football field.
Out of the Rover's camera field of view, before whizzing back into it again.

mxaxai · Wed Apr 28, 2021 1:27 pm

MadAstronaut wrote:
On April 25, Ingenuity took its third flight. The altitude was the same, but the speed and distance significantly increased.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-flies-faster-farther-on-third-flight

While the speed and range don't seem that great for Earth standards (2 m/s or 7 km/h is comparable to a light jog), it's orders of magnitude faster than any Marsian vehicle so far. Perserverance is one of the faster rovers with a top speed of 152 m/h, or .042 m/s.

A UAV that can carry samples or take measurements could explore so much more area compared to a rover on its own.

Nomadd · Wed Apr 28, 2021 2:53 pm

mxaxai wrote:
MadAstronaut wrote:
On April 25, Ingenuity took its third flight. The altitude was the same, but the speed and distance significantly increased.
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasas-ingenuity-mars-helicopter-flies-faster-farther-on-third-flight

While the speed and range don't seem that great for Earth standards (2 m/s or 7 km/h is comparable to a light jog), it's orders of magnitude faster than any Marsian vehicle so far. Perserverance is one of the faster rovers with a top speed of 152 m/h, or .042 m/s.
A UAV that can carry samples or take measurements could explore so much more area compared to a rover on its own.

Weight limitations are and always will be extreme for Mars aircraft. Flying in .006 Bar air isn't easy.
A Titan drone would be better. 10km battery powered flights followed by week long RTG powered recharging. 1.5 Bar air and low gravity means easy flight. Mary Poppins could fly there.

mxaxai · Sat May 15, 2021 10:57 am

China's rover has successfully landed on Mars. https://spacenews.com/chinas-zhurong-ma ... -planitia/

GDB · Sat May 15, 2021 2:51 pm

mxaxai wrote:
China's rover has successfully landed on Mars. https://spacenews.com/chinas-zhurong-ma ... -planitia/

Good news! Look forward to images etc, given this is China's first landing on a planet they will want to share this achievement.
What should happen next;
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01301-7

GDB · Wed May 19, 2021 9:08 pm

First images from the Chinese Rover and the reason for the delay;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7Hb0_GPbU

MadAstronaut · Tue May 25, 2021 1:27 pm

Guys! Chinese rover took its first drive on Mars and made China the second nation that managed to drive a rover on Mars. It happened 3 days ago.

bearnard123 · Wed May 26, 2021 2:24 pm

MadAstronaut wrote:
Guys! Chinese rover took its first drive on Mars and made China the second nation that managed to drive a rover on Mars. It happened 3 days ago.

That`s interesting! looking forward to getting to know something interesting from this Chinese rover. This is a great achievement for the Chinese space exploration department. Do you have more detailed information about this rover

flyingturtle · Wed May 26, 2021 2:46 pm

bearnard123 wrote:
MadAstronaut wrote:
Guys! Chinese rover took its first drive on Mars and made China the second nation that managed to drive a rover on Mars. It happened 3 days ago.

That`s interesting! looking forward to getting to know something interesting from this Chinese rover. This is a great achievement for the Chinese space exploration department. Do you have more detailed information about this rover

https://bfy.tw/R0M1

MadAstronaut · Fri May 28, 2021 10:04 pm

bearnard123 wrote:
MadAstronaut wrote:
Guys! Chinese rover took its first drive on Mars and made China the second nation that managed to drive a rover on Mars. It happened 3 days ago.

That`s interesting! looking forward to getting to know something interesting from this Chinese rover. This is a great achievement for the Chinese space exploration department. Do you have more detailed information about this rover

It's not so promising as Perseverance, and moreover can't boast of advanced scientific instruments, but it's still important for future Mars exploration. What do you want us to tell you about it?

bearnard123 · Mon May 31, 2021 1:34 pm

Curiosity Rover has captured stunning images of the rare, shimmering clouds that exist on Mars. clouds are rare on the Red Planet due to its thin, dry atmosphere. Clouds can typically be found at the planet’s equator during the coldest parts of a Martian year when Mars is farthest from the sun. [URL unfurl="true"]https://hypebeast.com/2021/5/mars-curiosity-rover-clouds-photos?utm_source=instagram&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=ig_bio[/URL]

GDB · Fri Jun 18, 2021 11:42 am

Meanwhile, some images from the Chinese mission;
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-57441757

wingman · Fri Jun 18, 2021 2:00 pm

I wonder if China will misinterpret the nickname for Mars.

Who is online

Popular Searches On Airliners.net