Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover - NASA Press Briefing Today (June 17)

There will be a press briefing today at 2:00 pm U.S. EDT (18:00 GMT) about the upcoming Mars 2020 Rover named "Perseverance", which is planned to launch next month (July 20 to August 11 launch window) and land on Mars on 18 February, 2021.



This rover is built on the same general design platform as the Curiosity Rover currently on Mars, although with some different instrumentation. It will be deployed on the surface via the same "sky crane" system that successfully used to put Curiosity there. Among other things, Perseverance will be looking for biosignatures from potential past microbial life on Mars.

It will be landing in Jezero Crater, which is a place that appears to have once been fed by rivers back when water flowed freely on Mars a couple of billion years ago. There are ancient river channels leading to Jezero Crater and a large river delta inside the crater that are still visible today.

This image shows the planned landing ellipse in Jezero Crater directly east of the ancient river delta and river channel:


Source: We're Going to Jezero!

Additional Jezero info: NASA - Jezero Crater Landing Site Selection

This rover will be carrying the a small drone helicopter that will fly ahead to help scout potential interesting sites for Perseverance to drive to. It's also meant to be a demo of helicopter technology for expanded use in future missions.

mars.nasa.gov...



There is also a sample collection aspect to this mission where soil samples will be collected from various locations and dropped off along the way in sealed canisters.

The idea is that a future mission (not yet planned in detail or funded) would later send a "fetch rover" that would collect the samples, then return them to Earth, via a small rocket launch from the fetch rover, for detailed analysis. Like I said, there is no future mission on the books to do this bringing-to-Earth of the samples, but they have stated tentative plans for a future craft that would bring the samples back within a decade.



Here is the link to the NASA TV stream that will be carrying today's 2:00 PM EDT press briefing:

NASA TV Stream



Additional mission information:

NASA Mars 2020 Rover Website

Wikipedia - Mars 2020 Rover

On of the cool aspects of this mission that I forgot to mention (mentioned during the briefing by deputy project manager Matt Wallace) is that there will be specific cameras on the entry vehicle and on the sky crane that will take video images of the rover touching down on Mars during the actual landing phase.

He mentioned that this would be the first time we will actually see a spacecraft landing on another world from outside the craft.

There will be a suite of cameras filming the descent and landing. There will be cameras looking up at the parachute as it deploys, a descent-stage "down look" camera that will look down at the rover from the sky crane as it is lowered to Mars, a camera looking up from the rover that will be looking at the sky crane during this lowering and touch-down phase, and a rover "down look" camera on the rover looking at the surface during landing.

While these videos will be really cool to see and will likely be a public relations winner, those videos will also help engineers with fine-tuning this landing method and develop future methods.

I imagine the moment for all these people when two rovers (or that helicopter) meet each other and stuff works. I think that moment, when we are able to relate what this achievement really means will be overpowering emotional.

We have two robots there filming each other. Since now, we only have single person view, then we have third person.

I know how it feels, if you hunch over something for long times, figure out the steps and that moment when you think "*curseword* yeah. YEAH, I made it. It works. I did it myself. I overcame the obstacles and now reap the fruit of long hard and arduous work."

I still remember my own moment, each detail, and yes I had tears of joy and it is only a stupid car. On this planet. Documented and known.

Go NASA, go for it.

Lord lets see them pull of the star trek landing again I would NOT have taken bets on it landing .
Our landing teck really just isn't high enough to garnte a landing even 6 times out of ten .

As for more rocks umm yea ? why does NASA Ignore the ICE CAPS which are comprised of BOTH water ice and CO 2 ice .
As mars has seasons just like earth watching the spring as the ICE cap melt and seeing the surrounding land turn green wile NASA goes digging in the dirt for the next rock is such a wast of time and science .

There are threads On some of the REAL more cool things NOT just a rock that looks like a gorilla .
www.jpl.nasa.gov...
lot more going on there then the places they land and a MUCH higher chance of fining life if its there there are photos showing the ares turning green in the spring why who knows but looking at another rock wont tell us .

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

The rovers will not meet. They will be more than 2,000 miles apart. So far, Curiosity has traveled about 14 miles.

Sorry about that.

a reply to: Phage
I regretted after posting this would be misunderstood because I worded it strangely.

But the helicopter will do, right? They have that in their animation, some kind of meetup. That was what I was talking about. Two human made objects finally meet and take pictures from each others.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

But the helicopter will do, right?

No. That is not part of the plan. It can only fly for 90 seconds at a time (once a day).
Its only function is as a technology demonstration. To see if it can really work. If it performs well future missions will carry versions with greater capabilities.

A series of flight tests will be performed over a 30-Martian-day experimental window that will begin sometime in the spring of 2021. For the very first flight, the helicopter will take off a few feet from the ground, hover in the air for about 20 to 30 seconds, and land. That will be a major milestone: the very first powered flight in the extremely thin atmosphere of Mars! After that, the team will attempt additional experimental flights of incrementally farther distance and greater altitude. After the helicopter completes its technology demonstration, Perseverance will continue its scientific mission.

mars.nasa.gov...

a reply to: Phage
Now, that was a letdown.

In that animation it makes the impression this helicopter will make a visit to a rover. So this is the one it comes with, I see that now.

I appreciate it, you clearing that up.

a reply to: ThatDamnDuckAgain

Yes, it will fly near the same rover which it travels to Mars with, its "mother", Perseverance.

It will not visit Curiosity.

Now ask why this area?
What is of importance beyond possible water (psst they know Mars had water) and why would they need a lifting craft? Well Rovers cannot scale cliffs so...

Then go watch a documentary on archaeology using Lidar and we will come back to this discussion.

a reply to: abeverage

“The landing site in Jezero Crater offers geologically rich terrain, with landforms reaching as far back as 3.6 billion years old, that could potentially answer important questions in planetary evolution and astrobiology,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Getting samples from this unique area will revolutionize how we think about Mars and its ability to harbor life.”

www.nasa.gov...

The "lifting craft" will be barely able to support it's own weight. It can reach the amazing altitude of 3 meters and can stay aloft for a colossal 90 minutes (before needing a day to recharge) which gives it the spectacular range of 300 meters. It is a proof of concept project, nothing more.
mars.nasa.gov...

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: abeverage

“The landing site in Jezero Crater offers geologically rich terrain, with landforms reaching as far back as 3.6 billion years old, that could potentially answer important questions in planetary evolution and astrobiology,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. “Getting samples from this unique area will revolutionize how we think about Mars and its ability to harbor life.”

www.nasa.gov...

The "lifting craft" will be barely able to support it's own weight. It can reach the amazing altitude of 3 meters and can stay aloft for a colossal 90 minutes (before needing a day to recharge) which gives it the spectacular range of 300 meters. It is a proof of concept project, nothing more.
mars.nasa.gov...

Oh Phage you know that is just what you're told!

hehe