On Mars, there is a distinctive type of “tumbleweed” rolling throughout the Martian plains.
These tumbleweeds aren’t vegetation – they’re items of debris from the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) {hardware} from NASA’s Perseverance rover. Percy has been coming throughout many of those remnants, photographing them in order that engineers can research them.
During its landing on February 18, 2021, a variety of {hardware} components slowed the spacecraft’s pace from 12,500 mph (20,000 kph) when it first entered the Martian atmosphere to primarily zero miles per hour when it was gently positioned on the floor by a sky crane. And that every one occurred in simply seven minutes.
Once their jobs have been full, EDL {hardware} just like the parachute, backshell, warmth protect, and the sky crane have been all jettisoned from the Perseverance rover, crashing into Mars far away from the rover in order to not injury it.
Over the previous 12 months and a half, the Perseverance crew has noticed and cataloged round half a dozen items of suspected EDL debris. The first piece was found on April 16, 2022, when an unusually shiny object was noticed in considered one of Perseverance’s panoramic Mastcam-Z pictures. “The material was given a descriptive name: ‘bright material’. No one knew what it was at the time, but perhaps the rover would take a closer look as it climbed up onto the delta in the coming weeks,” wrote NASA in a blog post (opens in new tab).
Several months later, Perseverance made it to that place within the delta, known as Hogwallow Flats. On June 12, 2022, it photographed the mysterious object, suspected to be a bit of multi-layer insulation (MLI) from the sky crane, made from both Perforated Aluminized Kapton (PAK) or Mylar, that flutters within the wind like a flag. In the identical area, the rover additionally caught a snapshot of a quick-moving knotted ball of “string-like material.” That could possibly be Dacron, a netting utilized in thermal blankets, in response to the operations crew.
Interestingly, Hogwallow Flats is greater than 1.25 miles (two kilometers) away from the crash zones of Perseverance’s EDL {hardware}. “Hogwallow Flats appears to be a natural collecting point for windblown EDL debris,” notes NASA.
Perseverance’s helicopter companion Ingenuity has gotten up shut and private with a few of the EDL debris. On April 19, 2022, Ingenuity flew over the crash web site of Perseverance’s backshell and parachute, taking high-resolution images of the debris.
Such fields of deliberately discarded debris should not unusual on Mars, as landings on the Red Planet are usually considerably violent occasions. Both the Opportunity and Curiosity rovers have additionally photographed what’s suspected to be their own EDL debris.
For now, landing spacecraft safely on Mars is the primary precedence, however as we proceed to plant rovers on the planet, researchers might want to contemplate the consequences of such house junk. “Engineers designing EDL hardware for future missions will need to consider the impact (literally) of their designs on both Mars and on the mission requirements,” stated NASA.
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