Mars

pwhole

Well-known member
Do you think a 'friendly' shootout between Perseverance and the UAE mission could be arranged? Just to spice things up a bit for the non-sciencey types ;)
 

wellyjen

Well-known member
pwhole said:
Do you think a 'friendly' shootout between Perseverance and the UAE mission could be arranged? Just to spice things up a bit for the non-sciencey types ;)
Apparently Perseverance has an ultraviolet laser. They claim it is for spectrometry, but I reckon NASA are thinking along the same lines as you.
 

tim.rose2

Active member
Now there's a future programme I'd like to see... Robot Wars, Mars special.  Just need to get Craig Charles out of retirement to commentate.
 

Fishes

New member
UV laser spectrometry can be especially good for determining the structure of organic molecules found in living organisms. The details are boring to anyone not interested in spectroscopy but the results could be much more interesting that Martian laser quest.
 

Duck ditch

New member
Certainly looks like a dried up stream.  What do you think microorganisms or not.  It would be amazing if they identify an ex microorganism.
 

pwhole

Well-known member
The last minute of this video is really exciting as it shows rocks on the ground next to the rover that are heavily-pitted, and could be volcanic or sedimentary:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/video/2021/feb/19/nasa-reveals-new-colour-images-of-mars-from-perseverance-rover-video
 

Steve Clark

Well-known member
RobinGriffiths said:
Yes, incredible accomplishment that. Loved the rocket cradle mechanism.

Amazing technology. The curiosity rover successfully used the same mechanism 8 years ago, which presumably means it was developed over 20 years ago. Interesting how the media is much more interested this time. That must be a good thing.

Both rovers are powered by tiny thermal nuclear generators (2.5kW for years). That doesn?t get some much coverage, presumably to avoid attention from the anti-everything conspiracy idiots.

 

2xw

Active member
I'm voting yes on microorganism fossils in this crater which is a lake bed (complete with fan delta). In combination with biosignatures on Venus could change how we view life in the universe
 

RobinGriffiths

Well-known member
Blimey, I've only just noticed they've taken a helicopter (drone??) with them! If that works, it'll be a pretty impressive achievement. Looks like it will have to survive some cold night though with it's off the shelf lithium batteries.

https://mars.nasa.gov/news/8867/nasas-mars-helicopter-reports-in/
 

Huge

Active member
Watched the video of the landing on YouTube last night. It is incredible!

One of the comments suggested that this is the very first video shot on Mars. There have only been a series of still images stiched together to make rather jumpy films in the past.
 
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