You should watch this animation of how Perseverance will land on Mars this week. Really.
image: NASA/JPL (screengrab from video)
Lots going on this month!
I’ve been working on the next book, and so haven’t mentioned all the cool stuff going on with Mars this month. Over the past week, two spacecraft successfully inserted themselves into orbit around the planet.
The Hope orbiter, from the United Arab Emirates, will be studying weather patterns.
The Tianwen-1 mission, from China, is composed of an orbiter, deployable camera, lander, and rover. The overall mission objective is to search for evidence of life and to assess the environment. The lander and its rover will attempt to land in May of this year.
And next week, on the afternoon of February 18, Perseverance will land in Jezero Crater. Perseverance will be looking for evidence of past and present life, testing oxygen production technology for future human missions, collecting rock and regolith samples for eventual return to Earth, and flying the first helicopter on Mars.
For more information on Perseverance, check out this in-depth article from The Smithsonian.
Silent Running
I remember really liking this movie as a kid. Even then, I was into realistic scifi. Revisiting it over the years as an adult, I thought it held up pretty well. Nice to see it getting some restorative attention.
SpaceX and the FAA
What’s going on with SpaceX and the FAA? Well, it appears to be complicated. But, with SN9 and SN10 stacked up at the launch pad, let’s hope they resolve their issues soon.
Ars Technica Iceland?
Recent study suggests early Mars may have been very much like Iceland.
Family photo
Here’s an image taken by something we built that is out there right now looking back at us. If that doesn’t make you stop a moment and say “huh”, I don’t know what will.
Mittens on Mars
Mars time
How will we keep time on Mars? It’s complicated.
More on Starship SN8
Here’s a nice summary of why this week’s Starship launch was a huge success, even though it failed to stick the landing.
Starship SN8 – before and after
This image of Elon Musk inspecting the wreckage really brings home the size of Starship.
(image: SPadre on Twitter)
(image: Spacex)