Essay Sample about The Perseverance Rover

📌Category: Science, Space
📌Words: 1130
📌Pages: 5
📌Published: 18 June 2022

The Perseverance Rover is an essential component to our future on the planet Mars. The rover uses tools such as cameras, computing systems, microphones, a robotic arm, and other technologies to explore the surface of the Red Planet.8 All of the cameras on the Perseverance Rover work together to work as the “eyes” of the rover and provide high quality images of Mars for scientists to study. The cameras work together with the computers that process information on the rover as well to produce an image to send back to NASA scientists. All of these technologies will give scientists a better understanding of the Red planet.

The cameras on the Perseverance rover are used to give the rover information about its surroundings. They work to measure the ground around the rover and guide movement, as well as aiding in sample collection. The cameras interact with all the other systems aboard the rover, such as the microphones and “brains” (computers that process information). The cameras and microphones on the rover function as the eyes and ears, replicating human senses. Similar to the arm and “hand” of the rover, the microphone works with the cameras to study Martian rocks and soil. The camera aids in the aiming of a laser which is shot at a rock, while the microphones pick up on what sound it makes, determining the mass and makeup of the rock.3 It’s essential that both of these components are working together, just as someone’s sense of sight and hearing. Another important part of the rover the cameras interact with is the Rover Compute Element (RCE). This module acts as the brains for Perseverance, it interfaces with the engineering functions of the rover. It accomplishes this over two networks which follow aerospace industry standards for airplanes and spacecraft. The “brains” are used to process the images that are taken by the cameras on the rover, operating at up to 200 megahertz.1 The cameras also work very closely with the arm and “hand” of the rover. The cameras work with the sensor on the “hand” to guide it and the arm to look for minerals that have been altered and may indicate past microbial life. 

The cameras are first exposed after the cruise stage, three parachute “up look” cameras face upward, videoing parachute inflation. During the descent stage, one “down look” camera faces the rover while it’s lowered during the sky crane maneuver. Two cameras are mounted on the rover, one on the deck and one underneath. On the deck, the rover “up look” faces upward during the descent and sky crane stages. The downward facing camera underneath the rover faces the surface of Mars during the landing stage. Each of these cameras is essential to each phase as they all play an important role in ensuring the stages run smoothly and as planned. The rover has 5 science cameras that all work together but have unique functions: Mastcam-Z, SuperCam, PIXL, SHERLOC Context Imager, and WATSON. The Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras that can zoom in, focus, and take 3D panoramic pictures and videos at high speeds to provide detail for distant objects. It picks out the best rocks that might preserve signs of past life, it hunts places for past life, and it looks for signs of water. It weighs roughly 9 pounds and takes about 17 watts to operate. It can resolve between 150 micrometers/pixel to 7.4 millimeters/pixel depending on the distance.4 The SuperCam is used to fire a laser at rocks outside the reach of the robotic arm. It analyzes the vaporized rock and its elemental composition. It can pinpoint areas as little as 1 millimeter from over 20 feet (about 7 meters) away. The SuperCam looks for organic compounds that could indicate past microbial activity on Mars.5 PIXL can identify tiny chemical compounds and take close up pictures of rock and soil. The purpose of the PIXL is congruent with the SuperCam.9 The SHERLOC Context Imager is similar to the PIXL in that it takes close up pictures of areas to be studied and helps scientists study the textures of different rocks. Finally, the WATSON camera is attached to the rover’s robotic arm. WATSON stands for Wide Angle Topographic Sensor for Operations and Engineering and it takes pictures that are the middle ground between the detailed images taken by the SHERLOC camera and the larger scope images taken by the SuperCam and Mastcam-Z.7 All 5 types of cameras on the Perseverance Rover work together to work as the “eyes” of the rover and provide high quality images of the Red Planet for scientists to study.

The cameras on the Perseverance Rover take pictures of the surface of Mars. They work to measure the ground around the rover and guide movement, as well as aiding in sample collection. The cameras take pictures and samples, then send the pictures to the “brains” of the rover where they’re sent back to Earth using UHF antennas. There is an international network of antennas that link scientists on Earth to the Rover on Mars. There are three communication facilities 120 degrees apart from each other to allow for constant observation capability as Earth rotates. The antennas are 34 and 70 meters long, allowing humans to communicate with spacecraft millions of miles away.13 As of October 12th, 2021, NASA engineers are working on a lander that would orbit Mars in order to receive samples from the Perseverance Rover. One spacecraft will bring the samples into orbit around Mars, while the spacecraft engineers are working on now will pick up the samples and bring them back to Earth. All of these technologies will give scientists a better understanding of the Red planet.

A lot of factors were taken into consideration when making the Perseverance Rover because of what didn’t work well on the Curiosity Rover. For example, the wheels on the Perseverance Rover had to be tougher to withstand sharp rocks and the surface of Mars.10 The Curiosity Rover only had 7 cameras on it, while the Perseverance Rover has a total of 23, most being in color.11 Better processing units in the “brains” of the rover enable Perseverance to figure out its path up to 5 times faster than Curiosity. The actual body of the Perseverance Rover is only 12 centimeters longer than Curiosity, but it weighs 126 kilograms more. The Parachute of the Perseverance had to be improved as well, but it's improvement was based on test trials. The Perseverance parachute was 3 times stronger than the parachute used on the Curiosity Rover. The parachute was tested in the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, a large wind tunnel used to simulate the landing phase of the trip to Mars. These improvements made to the rover allow it to be superior to its predecessor, Curiosity.

The Perseverance Rover is an essential tool used to study the planet Mars. The rover uses components such as cameras, computing systems, microphones, a robotic arm, and other technologies to explore the surface of Mars.8 All of the cameras on the Perseverance Rover work together to provide high quality images of Mars for scientists to study. The cameras work together with the computers that process information on the rover as well to produce an image to send back to NASA scientists. All of these technologies will give scientists a better understanding of the Red planet.

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