Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance
In 2020/2021, my closest friends & family each travelled 504,668,791 km (313 million miles) together (well at least our names did).
Believe in Science!
I’m so honored and proud that our names are physically on the red planet now.
Congratulations and thank you NASA!!
During a tiny window of opportunity in early 2020 to enter the lottery and submit names, thanks to both Asian time zone, and use of VPN’s NASA, confirmed my securing 10 names to be micro engraved on the Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance.
Three of these departed this earthly world already (my mother, ex RAF, who always dreamed of space flight, DJ’s grandmother BABA (Cassie Boyachuk), and my close friend, film director Ryan Chen You Kang who passed away of cancer while the mission was underway), but they join the rest of us in eternity on the outside casing of the Mars 2020 Rover Perseverance near the front right wheel.
The Mars 2020/Perseverance rover is designed to better understand the geology of Mars and seek signs of ancient life. The mission will collect and store a set of rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth in the future. It will also test new technology to benefit future robotic and human exploration of Mars.
Key Objectives
- Explore a geologically diverse landing site
- Assess ancient habitability
- Seek signs of ancient life, particularly in special rocks known to preserve signs of life over time
- Gather rock and soil samples that could be returned to Earth by a future NASA mission
- Demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration
Key Hardware
Perseverance carries 7 instruments to conduct unprecedented science and test new technology on the Red Planet. They are:
- Mastcam-Z, an advanced camera system with panoramic and stereoscopic imaging capability with the ability to zoom.
- SuperCam, an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis, and mineralogy at a distance.
- Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL), an X-ray fluorescence spectrometer and high-resolution imager to map the fine-scale elemental composition of Martian surface materials.
- Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC), a spectrometer that will provide fine-scale imaging and uses an ultraviolet (UV) laser to map mineralogy and organic compounds.
- The Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE), a technology demonstration that will produce oxygen from Martian atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA), a set of sensors that will provide measurements of temperature, wind speed and direction, pressure, relative humidity, and dust size and shape.
- Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX), a ground-penetrating radar that will provide centimeter-scale resolution of the geologic structure of the subsurface.
For more information, visit https://mars.NASA.gov/Mars2020
