These 2 Private Companies Aim to Beat SpaceX to Mars With 2024 Flight
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Two startup space companies in California, Relativity Space and Impulse Space, announced on July 19 that they are teaming up to launch the first commercial mission to Mars in 2024. According to a press release, Relativity Space would provide its reusable, 3D-printed Terran R rocket for the mission's launch, while Impulse Space would provide its Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander to place equipment on the Martian surface. If Relativity and Impulse can pull off their plan, they just might be the first commercial space companies to reach the Red Planet. However, it is important to note that neither company has put a single payload into space to date. Despite the fact that the planned 2024 mission will be their first, leaders at both companies have made it clear they have confidence that this partnership can land a payload on Mars. Impulse's Mueller was a founding member of SpaceX and led its propulsion department from 2014 to 2019, having previously served as VP of Propulsion Engineering from 2002 to 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. For his part, Relativity Space Cofounder and CEO Tim Ellis stated that the partnership between the two firms makes humanity's dream of reaching Mars obtainable. "We believe building a multiplanetary future on Mars is only possible if we inspire dozens to hundreds of companies to work toward a singular goal," Ellis said in the statement. "This is a monumental challenge, but one that, successfully achieved, will expand the possibilities for human experience in our lifetime across two planets."
Credit: Relativity Space/Impulse Space/Space.com
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Perseverance Mars Rover Wind Sensor Damaged by Pebbles, But Still Operational
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Pebbles carried aloft by strong Red Planet gusts recently damaged one of the wind sensors, but MEDA can still keep track of wind at its landing area in Jezero Crater, albeit with decreased sensitivity, said José Antonio Rodriguez Manfredi, principal investigator of MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer). "Right now, the sensor is diminished in its capabilities, but it still provides speed and direction magnitudes," Rodriguez Manfredi, a scientist at the Spanish Astrobiology Center in Madrid. "The whole team is now re-tuning the retrieval procedure to get more accuracy from the undamaged detector readings." The two approximately ruler-sized wind sensors on Perseverance are encircled by six individual detectors that aim to give accurate readings from any direction, according to materials from NASA's JPL. Each of the two main wind sensors is attached to a boom that can unfold to move the sensors away from the rover as it drives, because the car-sized Perseverance does affect wind currents by its own movements through the thin Martian atmosphere, JPL officials stated. Like all instruments on Perseverance, the wind sensor was designed with redundancy and protection in mind. And for an instrument like MEDA, the limit is more challenging, since the sensors must be exposed to environmental conditions in order to record wind parameters. But when stronger-than-anticipated winds lifted larger pebbles than expected, the combination resulted in damage to some of the detector elements.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space.com
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Tricky Mars Rocks Making Things Difficult For NASA's Perseverance Rover
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Perseverance is busy examining rocks in search of these key biomarkers. The most promising rocks will be cached for a future sample-return mission to carry them to Earth in 2033, allowing scientists to apply the most powerful lab technology to study the molecular structure in greater detail and determine whether the organic molecules have biological origins. The life-hunting rover is equipped with a suite of onboard instruments to understand mineralogy and elemental distributions, as well as to detect whether organic molecules are present. At the most promising rocks, Perseverance then attempts to drill a core sample to put in one of its collection tubes. However, choosing a rock that is just right to sample can be challenging for the robotic explorer. Sometimes, the coring process alone can cause the fragile rock samples to fracture, crack or even crumble. When assessing which areas to sample, Perseverance also has to account for the shape and angle of rocks, which can make drilling difficult or even impossible for the rover. Perseverance ran into this issue when attempting to sample what scientists nicknamed "Betty's Rock" — a layered rock located near the bottom of the delta and composed of alternating coarse-grained and fine-grained materials. Unfortunately, the rover was unable to safely maneuver the jagged layers and awkward shape of this rock. Instead, Perseverance found an alternative sampling subject called Skinner Ridge Rock, which is a low-lying rock that looks very similar to Betty's Rock, but appears more manageable for coring. Skinner Ridge Rock is now the rover's next target after a dry spell for sampling.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space.com
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Esta imagem mostra parte dos arredores da Nebulosa da Tarântula localizada dentro da Pequena Nuvem de Magalhães(LMC), uma pequena galáxia próxima que orbita a Via Láctea e aparece como uma bolha borrada em nossos céus.
O Telescópio Espacial Hubble espiou muitas vezes esta galáxia, liberando imagens impressionantes das nuvens rodopiantes de gás e estrelas cintilantes. Na maioria das imagens do LMC a cor é completamente diferente da vista aqui. Para esta imagem, os pesquisadores substituíram o filtro R habitual, que seleciona a luz vermelha, e o substituíram por um filtro que deixa passar a luz infravermelha próxima. Nas imagens tradicionais, o gás hidrogênio aparece rosa porque brilha mais forte no vermelho. Aqui, no entanto, outras linhas de emissão menos proeminentes dominam os filtros azul e verde.
Muitos dos dados do projeto podem ser usados para estudar uma ampla gama de tópicos astronômicos, incluindo lentes gravitacionais e cisalhamento cósmico, explorando galáxias distantes de formação de estrelas, complementando observações em outras faixas de comprimento de onda com dados ópticos e examinando populações estelares.
Crédito de imagem: ESA/Hubble & NASA: agradecimento: Josh Barrington
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Mars Helicopter Ingenuity Recovering From Communications Blackout Spawned by Dust
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JPL reestablished contact with the small Ingenuity chopper on Thursday (May 5) after it missed a scheduled call-in about two days before. Engineers suggest that the Mars helicopter may have entered a low power state due to a combination of high levels of dust in the atmosphere and low local temperatures. The helicopter is battling dust, seasonal changes and conditions beyond its design plan, all of which mean it will face more obstacles in continuing its flights in the coming months. The FGPA unit is crucial to making sure Ingenuity remains operational, including controlling the power to avionics elements and operating heaters to keep Ingenuity alive during cold Martian nights. Controllers suspect that after the FGPA lost power, the helicopter's clock reset and the heaters turned off. To try to catch Ingenuity again, engineers commanded Perseverance to listen for the signal for nearly an entire Martian sol (day) on May 5, and finally heard from the helicopter around 11:45 a.m. local Mars time. Ingenuity was limited in what it could send to preserve its power, but controllers were able to determine that the helicopter's basic health appeared to be good. Dust, however, will remain a persistent threat for the solar-powered mission and make it more difficult to recharge the batteries. JPL officials said that Ingenuity has turned on its heaters whenever battery temperatures were lower than 5 degrees Fahrenheit for the past three sols. Engineers now have a new plan. Anew set of commands changed the point at which the battery turns on, to minus 40 degrees F. The helicopter will also be tasked to shut down immediately, instead of using up "precious" battery charge, JPL stated.
Credit: NASA/JPL/Space.com
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