OrbitalHub

NASA dicit:

NASA’s newest rover captured this rover descent camera POV footage of its February 18 touchdown on Mars.

Video credit: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Wikipedia dicit:

The three major components of the Mars 2020 spacecraft are the 539 kg (1,188 lb) cruise stage for travel between Earth and Mars; the Entry, Descent, and Landing System (EDLS) that includes the 575 kg (1,268 lb) aeroshell descent vehicle + 440 kg (970 lb) heat shield; and the 1,070 kg (2,360 lb) (fueled mass) sky crane needed to deliver Perseverance and Ingenuity safely to the Martian surface. The Sky Crane carries 400 kg (880 lb) landing propellant for the final soft landing burn after being slowed down by a 21.5 m (71 ft) wide 81 kg (179 lb) parachute. The 1,025 kg (2,260 lb) rover is based on the design of Curiosity. While there are differences in scientific instruments and the engineering required to support them, the entire landing system (including the sky crane and heat shield) and rover chassis could essentially be recreated without any additional engineering or research. This reduces overall technical risk for the mission, while saving funds and time on development.

One of the upgrades is a guidance and control technique called “Terrain Relative Navigation” (TRN) to fine-tune steering in the final moments of landing. This system will allow for a landing accuracy within 40 m (130 ft) and avoid obstacles. This is a marked improvement from the Mars Science Laboratory mission that had an elliptical area of 7 by 20 km (4.3 by 12.4 mi). In October 2016, NASA reported using the Xombie rocket to test the Lander Vision System (LVS), as part of the Autonomous Descent and Ascent Powered-flight Testbed (ADAPT) experimental technologies, for the Mars 2020 mission landing, meant to increase the landing accuracy and avoid obstacle hazards.

Video credit: Aerojet Rocketdyne

Lockheed Martin dicit:

Protecting a Mars Rover against the extremes of space travel is critical to the success of any mission. At Lockheed Martin, we’ve built aeroshells to protect all 10 of NASA’s Mars-bound landers and rovers.

For NASA’s latest mission — Mars 2020, which includes the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter — we built the protective aeroshell and helicopter delivery system. Mars 2020 will attempt the most challenging entry, descent and landing (EDL) sequences ever at Mars. The rover will touch down in the treacherous Jezero Crater, a region filled with boulders, rocky cliffs and shifting sand dunes.

Video credit: Lockheed Martin

SpaceX dicit:

On Tuesday, February 2, Starship serial number 9 (SN9) completed SpaceX’s second high-altitude flight test of a Starship prototype from our site in Cameron County, Texas.

Similar to the high-altitude flight test of Starship serial number 8 (SN8), SN9 was powered through ascent by three Raptor engines, each shutting down in sequence prior to the vehicle reaching apogee – approximately 10 kilometers in altitude. SN9 successfully performed a propellant transition to the internal header tanks, which hold landing propellant, before reorienting itself for reentry and a controlled aerodynamic descent.

The Starship prototype descended under active aerodynamic control, accomplished by independent movement of two forward and two aft flaps on the vehicle. All four flaps are actuated by an onboard flight computer to control Starship’s attitude during flight and enable precise landing at the intended location. During the landing flip maneuver, one of the Raptor engines did not relight and caused SN9 to land at high speed and experience a RUD.

These test flights are all about improving our understanding and development of a fully reusable transportation system designed to carry both crew and cargo on long-duration, interplanetary flights and help humanity return to the Moon, and travel to Mars and beyond.

Video credit: SpaceX

Wikipedia dicit:

On December 9, 2020, Starship serial number 8 (SN8) completed a high-altitude flight test as it successfully ascended, transitioned propellant, and demonstrated a first-of-its-kind controlled aerodynamic descent and landing flip maneuver – which will enable landing where prepared surfaces or runways do not exist, including the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

Video credit: SpaceX

Wikipedia dicit:

Mars 2020 is a Mars rover mission by NASA’s Mars Exploration Program that includes the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter drone. It was launched on 30 July 2020 at 11:50 UTC, and will touch down in Jezero crater on Mars on 18 February 2021.

Perseverance will investigate an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars and investigate its surface geological processes and history, including the assessment of its past habitability, the possibility of past life on Mars, and the potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials. It will cache sample containers along its route for retrieval by a potential future Mars sample-return mission. The Mars 2020 mission was announced by NASA on 4 December 2012 at the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. The Perseverance rover’s design is derived from the Curiosity rover, and will use many components already fabricated and tested, new scientific instruments and a core drill.

Mars 2020 was the third of three space missions sent toward Mars during the July 2020 Mars launch window, with missions also launched by the national space agencies of the United Arab Emirates (Hope orbiter) and China (Tianwen-1, with an orbiter, lander, and rover). All three are expected to arrive at Mars in February 2021.

Video credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech