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A year has passed since the Perseverance rover covered 471 million km and landed on the surface of Mars. During this time, the rover, together with the Ingenuity helicopter, has significantly expanded our knowledge of this planet.
NASA’s Perseverance rover landed on the Red Planet on February 18, 2021. During the year, the rover achieved many important goals for science and the future of man: it collected tens of gigabytes of data, obtained the first soil samples, helped the first helicopter on Mars take off, and tested a prototype oxygen generator. Here are the most significant results of Perseverance’s work.
The speed of sound on Mars has become known
One of Perseverance’s most recent discoveries (March 2022) is that it was able to calculate the speed of sound on Mars for the first time, thanks to built-in microphones and lasers. The rover conducted several experiments in the area of the Lake Lake crater, “shooting” stones from a laser and reading the sound from plasma hitting them. Each time the value of the speed of sound was in the region of 240 m/s, which is one and a half times lower than the same indicator on Earth (343 m/s).
Over 200 thousand new photos
Perseverance was equipped with 23 cameras. The IMI rover took more than 200 photographs of the surface of Mars, including selfies with the Ingenuity helicopter. The images will help scientists study the features of the planet’s landscape and suggest where to look for ancient organic molecules.
First controlled flight on another planet
On April 19, 2021, the Ingenuity helicopter took off for the first time. It rose about 3 m above the surface of Mars, hovered briefly, turned, and then landed. It was the first time in history that mankind made a controlled flight in the atmosphere of another planet. In addition, scientists were convinced that aerial research is possible on Mars, despite the rarefied atmosphere of the planet (its density is 100 times less than that of the earth). After that, the helicopter made another 19 successful takeoffs, helping the rover navigate.
Ingenuity is no less important to scientists than Perseverance. The helicopter is equipped with two cameras: a 13-megapixel color camera with stereoscopic imaging and a black-and-white navigation camera. Using them, Ingenuity takes high-quality images and constructs a 3D map of the planet’s surface.
First soil samples
On September 1, 2021, a rover drilled a 6 cm hole in a rock called Rochette and recovered a rock sample. For the first time, a device has obtained samples from another planet in order to send them to Earth. The rover has since collected five more rock fragments. Scientists will begin studying them as soon as they are delivered to Earth.
Obtaining oxygen from the atmosphere of Mars
One of the most important results of Perseverance’s work is the successful attempt to extract oxygen from the Red Planet’s atmosphere. In the spring of 2021, the rover used the MOXIE, the size of a car battery. The device was able to extract carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, clean it of pollution, and then “pull” oxygen out of it. “The idea was to bring an empty oxygen tank and fill it up on Mars,” NASA researcher Michael Hecht explained.
MOXIE produced 5,4 g of 98% pure oxygen in an hour. This is enough for 10 minutes of breathing. However, the process required a lot of energy. The device can produce up to 12 grams per hour – about the same as a large tree. Scientists hope to increase the power: if they succeed, in the future, people may be able to breathe on Mars.
Confirmation of the existence of water in the crater
The main object of study of Perseverance was the Lake Lake crater. Scientists assumed that there was a lake inside it. They were able to confirm this hypothesis thanks to the rover, which sent back images of sedimentary deposits. It turned out that Lake is a dried up ancient lake. Previously, a river with a length of about 190 km flowed into it. Water was here about 4 billion years ago.
Detection of organic molecules
In the Lake crater, the rover found not only confirmation of the hypothesis of the existence of a large lake, but also organic matter. Carbon-containing molecules hid inside rocks and dust. However, this discovery does not yet confirm that life once existed on Mars, since organic matter also arises as a result of non-biological processes.
“The questions will not be answered until the samples arrive on Earth. Organic is very exciting. The samples will be the impetus for research and discovery for many years to come,” said NASA employee Luther Beagle. In 2022, scientists will focus specifically on the search for ancient microbial life on Mars.