MARS ROVERS

Five metres. That is how far NASA’s InSight Lander will delve into the red dust, when it lands in November. But the craft is not alone. Over the coming years, a brand new generation of robots will go to Mars to conquer the planet's last strongholds and pe

Earth has invaded Mars. More and more robots are arriving by the day. We profile the survivors, and remember the pancakes.

Aspace capsule with a large rover inside is approaching Mars. The craft has travelled for seven months and is now making its way down the thin atmosphere at a speed of 20,000 km/h. The air drag slows down the capsule, and 11 km above the surface of Mars, its speed has been reduced to 1,500 km/h. A huge parachute is released, reducing speed even more. A radar measures how fast the surface is approaching, and a camera takes photos, which are quickly compared to a map of the landing site based on satel l i te i mages. The intelligent landing system ensures that the precious load – the large Mars 2020 rover – lands on an even surface instead of a mountain slope. At the proper time, the upper part of the capsule is detached along with the parachute, and the rover is in a free fall towards Mars at a speed of some 280 km/h. Without further slowdown, the descent would end in a disaster, but the rover is attached to a lander equipped with eight rocket motors that make sure to reduce the speed, so the remaining descent takes place at a modest 2.7 km/h.

However, the journey is not over yet. If the lander ends up on top of the rover, it will not survive. Some 21 m above the surface, the craft turns into a crane that lowers the rover to the ground. Mars 2020 lands very softly in the red dust, the cables are cut, and the lander flies away from the rover by means of its rocket motors. Only seven minutes have passed, since the space capsule entered the Martian atmosphere, and now, the mission can seriously begin.

This will hopefully be the scenario in mid-February 2021, when NASA’s fifth Mars rover reaches its destination. Mars 2020 is based on its predecessor Curiosity, which has roamed the planet since 2012, but it is equipped with new, more sensitive instruments. Moreover, the new navigation system will allow the heavy Mars 2020, which weighs several tonnes, to land much more accurately and hence closer to the place that scientists would really like to explore.

The large, American Mars 2020 is only one of three Mars rovers launched in mid-2020. The two others are the ExoMars rover from the European S pac e Agency (ESA) and a small e r Chinese rover. But we need not wait this long for news from the Red Planet.

Already in November, NASA’s InSight lander will arrive to explore Mars’ interior. The craft brings a mechanical mole, which will work its way several metres into the ground to measure the planet’s temperature, while a very sensitive seismograph measures vibrations caused by geological activity and meteor strikes.

Rover drills 2 m into the ground

Mars is presently the subject of intense scientific interest for two reasons. First of all, there might have been life on our neighbouring planet, and secondly, Mars is the obvious destination, if we would like to send humans into space.

Today, Mars is ice-cold and dry, but more than three billion years ago, there were lots of liquid water on its surface in the shape of lakes, rivers, and probably a large ocean. Liquid water is a prerequisite for life as we know it. The question is whether it was only on Earth that chemical compounds joined in the special way that converted them into living organisms, or if living organisms also developed on other planets in our Solar System.

The chief purpose of the new rovers that

9,844 km was the shortest distance to Mars, when NASA’s Mariner 4 probe was the first to fly by the planet in 1965.