Sending a probe to another celestial body is an odyssey, let’s not forget it. That it also manages to land and function properly is almost a technological miracle that involves numerous researchers, an efficient administrative structure, and significant financial resources. It is not only a showcase of scientific potential: it is also a showcase of its industrial capacity.
Why Mars, why now?
Mars can be considered as an unfortunate twin of the Earth : small size and mass, thin atmosphere, little insolation, tiny satellites, absence of global magnetic field. However, its geological and astrobiological interest is enormous.
In situ access to its surface and the possibility of studying its climate from its orbit are essential to understand its formation and evolution process, as well as the conditions that allow (or allowed) the appearance of biological activity, if at all. occur sometime in its 4.5 billion years.
Several ships are arriving at Mars in February 2021, in a process that is not accidental. On the one hand, in order to optimize the payload that each mission brings to a planet, launches occur at certain times. In the case of the red planet, the ideal window occurs every two years and corresponded to last summer.
After months of interplanetary voyage, the Hope, Tianwen-1 and Perseverance probes now reach their target. Due to its complexity and the experience of the different countries involved, the latter is the one that will possibly produce the most spectacular results.
Mars2020 mission: Perseverance
The North American space agency has extensive experience on Mars, both with orbiters and placing probes on its surface. The Perseverance rover will be the fifth vehicle to tour the terrain of the red planet, after Soujourner, Spirit and Opportunity, and Curiosity, the latter still in operation.
Among its objectives are the search for environments that have been capable of supporting life, the detection of signs of it in the past and the collection of samples for their subsequent collection by other probes and their shipment to Earth. In addition, he will carry out a technology demonstration with a small helicopter.
The rover is destined for the Jezero crater, a very interesting habitat of about 50 km in diameter, characterized by a structure similar to a river delta, which could have been formed by the filling and overflowing of a lake in the remote past of the planet. The seven instruments of the spacecraft will allow an exhaustive study to be carried out during the duration of the mission and to travel through the different regions of this complete environment.
The first weather network on another planet
The Mars2020 mission, essentially American but the result of international collaboration, has a strong Spanish accent. The Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA) instrument will allow the study of environmental conditions (humidity, pressure, air and soil temperature, wind speed and direction). Also the study of dust, so crucial on this planet, and solar radiation in different ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.
MEDA, built in Spain, is led by the Center for Astrobiology (CAB), a joint center of the National Institute of Space Technology (INTA) and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), and by one of its researchers, José Antonio Rodríguez -Manfredi. Another instrument, SuperCAM, has also had Spanish collaboration, executed by the Institute of Geosciences (IGEO), a joint center of the Complutense University of Madrid and the CSIC.
On the surface of Mars, the Center for Astrobiology already has two other instruments: REMS ( Rover Environmental Monitoring Station ) and TWINS ( Temperature and Wind for InSight ). The former is docked to the Curiosity rover and has been in operation since 2012, while the latter is part of InSight, which landed on the planet in 2018.
Therefore, Spain is deploying the first meteorological network that exists on another planet and the scientists working at the Astrobiology Center, together with their collaborators, are developing projects that allow us to understand the behavior of the climate of this fascinating planet. A true epic story that happens every day, and that brings us a little closer to the last question: is there life beyond the borders of our planet?
The success of the Spanish mission and contribution lies in the human personnel, women and men who have worked for many years. Sometimes supported by their respective organizations and by Spanish industry, but also despite the public administration. The many administrative obstacles, the scarce financial resources and the limited professional career are obstacles that prevent us from competing on equal terms with our international colleagues who are also, let’s not forget, competitors.
Only a profound change in the management of science and technology will make it possible to maintain frontier programs such as MEDA and the correct interaction between basic and applied research, for the benefit of all. Our future as an advanced society depends in large part on it.
David Barrado Navascués, Professor of Astrophysical Research, Astrobiology Center (INTA-CSIC)
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original.
