Production: Jesús Nicolás
The landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars has been one of the most important events of scientific today. Today we chat with Jesús Martínez Frías, an expert in planetary geology, a researcher at the Institute of Geosciences of the CSIC, where he is head of the Research Group on Meteorites and Planetary Geosciences.
Spanish science has participated in the Perseverance space exploration mission, through two instruments that accompany the rover: the MEDA and the SuperCam; MEDA is an environmental station manufactured in the Astrobiology Center dependent on the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA) and the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC); and the SuperCam, which has the participation of the Institute of Geosciences.
Perseverance will look for signs of ancient microbial life, advancing human knowledge about the past habitability of Mars. The rover has a drill to collect Martian soil and rock core samples, then store them in sealed tubes for collection by a future mission that would transport them back to Earth for detailed analysis. Perseverance will also test technologies to help pave the way for future human exploration of Mars.
Strapped to the belly of the rover for the trip to Mars is a technology demonstration: the Mars helicopter, Ingenuity, will achieve the first powered flight on the red planet.
Searching for ancient life, collecting rocks and soil
There are several ways the mission helps pave the way for future human expeditions to Mars and demonstrates technologies that can be used in those efforts. These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as groundwater), improving landing techniques, and characterizing weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future living astronauts and work on Mars.
