The development of technology has allowed different countries to optimize and develop different systems that allow exploring the vastness of space . Hundreds of thousands of probes, ships, satellites or robots have gone into space to accumulate as much information as possible. The exploration of Mars is also an object of study, since it has been thought for a long time that there could be life on this planet. In fact, they are thinking in the future of sending human beings to the red planet . There are different robotic vehicles that are currently active, working so that later on Earth research is done and results are obtained.
What are the missions currently active on Mars?
Perseverance
The Perseverance robot is one of the best known found on Mars. It was done as part of the “Mars 2020” mission. It was launched from Earth on July 30, 2020 and landed on the red planet on February 18 of this year, thus culminating a journey of more than six months.
The objective of this robot is to study the surface of the planet. To do so, it has up to seven different instruments. In addition, it has more than 20 cameras equipped with two microphones.
Recently, there was a mystery surrounding this robot as a sample it had collected had disappeared. However, the sample was found to have disintegrated during the collection process and this week Perseverance was able to collect its first sample.
Ingenuity
Within the mission “Mars 2020” the robot Ingenuity accompanies Perseverance. However, this is a robotic helicopter. Its function is to explore Mars and, in addition, it is also in charge of planning the best possible route for Perseverance, since it has an aerial view.
Thanks to route planning , it will be possible to help avoid risks both to future robots and in the future something more distant to astronauts.
In addition, when flying you can get images of great resolution and quality. Its technology and its use will serve as the basis for the future development of other robotic helicopters for future space missions.
Curiosity
This large robot took off from our planet on November 26, 2011 and it was not until August 6, 2012 when it landed. On the same day of landing, he was in charge of sending images of the planet to Earth. The mission is called “Curiosity”, like the robot.
It has devices of all kinds to collect as much information as possible, such as cameras, radiation meters, environmental sensors or spectrometers to measure the properties of light.
It also has a huge 2.1 meter long robotic arm with which it can grasp different objects.
Last month the robot ventured to explore a changing landscape by ascending Mount Sharp, a region of Mars that is 8 kilometers high and where a crater is 154 kilometers wide.
InSight lander
This lander is part of the InSight mission. Its main mission is to use its different instruments that have the latest technology to study the subsoil and interior of Mars.
It took off on May 5, 2018 and landed on November 26 of that same year. Another objective to be achieved with this machine is to know the processes that led to the creation of rocky planets in the Solar System millions of years ago.
The fundamental thing is to know the size, thickness, density and interior structure (core, mantle and crust) of Mars. It is also interesting to know the speed with which heat escapes inside the planet.
Last July, different details about the deep interior of Mars were revealed. The crust is thinner than previously thought (20-40 km) and the mantle measures 1,560 km . For its part, the radius has a nucleus of 1830 kilometers in radius.
Zhu rong
This Chinese robot is an explorer robot that aims to explore the surface of Mars. It is part of the Tianwen-1 mission.
It launched on July 23, 2020 and landed on May 14 of this year, making China the second country to successfully land an aircraft on Mars after the United States.
Studying the geology, the structure of the soil and other elements such as the magnetic field or the distribution of ice in water are some of the scientific objectives for which the robot is used.