How will the NASA’s Mars 2020 Rover Mission help in the Future Colonization of Mars?
NASA has stepped up its Mars Exploration Program through the Mars 2020 rover expedition. NASA’s Mars 2020 mission presents continuous efforts of robotic surveillance of the Martian planet. NASA believes that the task will address imperative science objectives for the investigation of Mars as well as look to the probability of life on this planet.
The Exploration Program presents the next step in space exploration looking for evidence of habitable condition on the Red planet and also looking for evidence of primitive life itself. NASA’s Mars 2020 rover exploration will help future astronauts to brave that inhospitable environment. The exploit will lay the necessary groundwork for the future colonization of the Red Planet.
The 2020 rover will be used to gather samples on the planet that may be used to prove the existence of Martian life. The rover that will be launched into space will be fitted with a drill that will amass important samples of soils and rocks and keep them in a cache on the planet’s surface. These cached samples may be brought to earth for experiments in future explorations on the planet.
This mission is revolutionary because it will provide scientists at NASA with opportunities to collect information and also test technologies which address the possible issues and threats to future human exploitations of the planet. The Mars 2020 rover will test the primary technique that can be used to produce oxygen from the planet’s atmosphere, detecting essential resources such as water, enhancing the landing methods for large payloads such as people (cosmonauts), and categorizing environment conditions such as weather patterns which may impact the future astronauts working and living on the Martian planet.
The launch of the Mars 2020 exploration is scheduled for July or August of 2020. This time is opportune form the launch of the exploration program because Mars and Earth are in good positions relative to one another for deplaning on the Martial planet. Research by NASA has revealed that launching the mission at this time will save on more power, especially when likened to other times when the two planets are in dissimilar positions in their orbitals.
In order to mitigate the risks and relative costs of the exploration, the Mars 2020 concept is founded on NASA’s operational Mars Science Laboratory operation design, encompassing an operational landing system and a curiosity rover. The Mars 2020 rover will be fueled using a nuclear battery, i.e., a multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectricity generator. Using the nuclear battery will keep the Mars 2020 rover warm and productive on its mission to look for evidence of life on the planet.
NASA’s Mars Exploration Program pushes the limits of what is currently possible while still depending on operational technologies. The program will also advances a number of techniques including those on future human missions to Mars and significances in the National Research Council’s 2011 Decadal Survey. However, NASA is not alone in its quest to achieve successful space exploration and the colonization of Mars. Other organizations such as the SpaceX have developed comprehensive plans that will assist NASA to actualize this dream.
The programs by this spaceflight organization which frequently conveys payload to the International Space Station using the Falcon 9 spacecraft will soon look to transport cosmonauts to Mars. Elon Musk, Space X founder, believes that the first base on the Red planet may be up and running by 2028.
Most of NASA’s technologies which are being employed in the Mars 2020 rover exploration concentrate on the arrival, descent, and deplaning technologies that help to guarantee safe and accurate landing. These innovations include sensors that can be used to measure the atmosphere, microphones, and cameras, and Terrain-Relative Navigation and Range Trigger which are used to offer two ways of reaching the surface of the Red planet.
Developing new and innovative technologies will be the key to survival on the Martian body because the current environment is inhospitable. The atmosphere on Mars is thin because it is mostly composed of carbon dioxide (96 percent); the atmosphere does not have breathable oxygen. The surface of Mars is icy, and the landscape does not have surface water for drinking. Also, the planet is not protected from passing dust storms and direct ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover mission has worked to address all of these concerns. The spacecraft that will be used in the launch will carry the latest engineering and scientific tools which have been integrated into the rover. These technologies address landing on the red planet, shelter, spacesuit, supply of oxygen, and water.
The deplaning site for the Mars 2020 rover is the Jezero Crater. The 2020 rover is scheduled to launch between July and August of 2020 and is expected to touchdown at Jezero Crater in February of the subsequent year. Successfully landing the 2020 rover will offer experts at NASA with a learning opportunity to look at how the rover’s parachute and heat shield perform in the planet’s atmosphere.
Scientists will also learn how effective the spacecraft’s radar can detect the approaching surface. Information collected from the landing of the spacecraft will help engineers and scientist to advance their landing designs for bigger spacecraft that will be carrying habitats, equipment, and astronauts.
NASA has also developed a device called the MOXIE that will be used to change the planet’s carbon dioxide into oxygen. Engineers at NASA believe that the application MOXIE may be applied at a larger scale to generate Oxygen for the inhabitants who are looking to colonize Mars. Other technologies such as the RIMFAX will be used on Mars to locate underground waterbeds that can be used as sources of water for inhabitants of the planet.
Additionally, NASA is working on developing new spacesuits that will be used to shield astronauts from the elements of the planet. Scientists will use SHERLOC to test the spacesuit endurance in the planet’s radiation. NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will also help collect information that will guide scientists and engineers in developing sustainable shelters on the Martian planet.