Mars Perseverance Rover

Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover aims to answer one of the most intriguing questions in the astrobiology field these days – Did life ever exist on Mars?

Mission Objective

The Mars Perseverance Rover was launched to explore the Jezero Crater on Mars, an ancient lakebed that is suspected of once hosting microbial life. The rover is designated to search for signs of past life by collecting rock and soil samples, which might give extraordinary evidence about the presence of life on Mars.

Source: NASA

Technical Challenges

Mars 2020 mission faced various engineering challenges that had to be addressed during the R&D process. The main challenges were mechanical, environmental, and communication. Among them:

• Thermal Challenges: Mars is a cold desert planet, hence there are large temperature differences between day and night, while the whole temperature range is from -100 °C to 20 °C for Jezero The instrument materials must withstand this wide temperature range for proper overall functioning.
• Optical Challenges: The surface reflects an intense sunlight that might cause severe stray light interruption and disrupt the data.
• Environmental Challenges: Martien dust is sticky, abrasive, and electrically charged. This may cause a problem with joints, optics, and calibration targets as well.

Instrument’s Characteristics

Perseverance carries a set of 6 advanced instruments to accomplish its scientific goal:

• Mascam-Z – high resolution panoramic camera for studying Martian terrain and mineralogy.
• SuperCam – combined laser-induced breakdown spectrometer and camera for remote chemical analysis.
• PIXL – Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry.
• SHERLOC – Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals. A spectrometer that uses UV lasers to detect organic molecules and minerals.
• MEDA – Mars Environmental Dynamic Analyzer. For metrics monitoring.
• MOXIE – pioneering experiment that produces oxygen from the Martian atmosphere.
• RIMFAX – Radar Imager for Mars’s subsurface study.

Acktar’s Solution

Acktar’s special black coating options, such as Magic Black, Velvet Black, and so on, offer optical and thermal solutions by mitigating stray light, maintaining thermal control, and being resilient to extreme space conditions. As the coatings act like a blackbody, they can suppress reflections and stabilize thermal emission spectra most efficiently. For the Mars Perseverance Rover, Acktar’s solution addressed the thermal and optical challenges by applying the Vacuum Black coating upon SHERLOC. Acktar’s contribution to the mission by allowing SHERLOC to provide accurate and reliable data about Mars’ mineralogy and its organic components, which is a significant part of understanding the ancient habitability question.

Perseverance Rover’s Entry, Descent, and Landing Profile. Source: NASA

Impact

The Perseverance Rover represents one of the most ambitious and interesting missions of science toward the exploration of life beyond Earth. Its discoveries have already transformed our knowledge about Mars’ geology and atmosphere. Moreover, the potential habitat of Jezero Carter has been confirmed by revealing the ancient river delta and the long-term water activity that has been there, and by the detection of organic molecules, which are the building blocks of life, by the SHERLOC instrument.

The rover continues exploring new regions at Jezero Crater. At the same time, the world awaits discoveries and mysteries that it will solve about the Martian land and our solar system in the same breath.

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