Technology

What will the Mars-2020 rover do with its hand?

Space Agency NASA has long been trying tofind signs of life on mars. It seems that it does not matter at all whether it exists now or dominated the planet many millions of years ago, because even the discovery of barely noticeable traces of microbes of extraterrestrial origin will be a sensational discovery. In July next year, a device called the Mars 2020, equipped with a two-meter robotic arm, will be sent to search for the Martians. It is one of the main tools of the rover, but what is it capable of?

For a start it is worth recalling that the new rovercreated on the basis of the apparatus "Curiosity", which has been studying the surface of the planet to this day since 2012. It is also equipped with a robotic limb, but the Mars-2020 will receive an improved version with more accurate scientific instruments, a drill for drilling the surface of the planet and a high-quality camera. More precisely, the new rover has already received all this - the hand was attached to the body of the device at the end of June 2019.

Mars 2020 robotic arm

Mars 2020 will fly to the Red Planetabout a year and, according to the calculations of scientists, he will face its atmosphere will sink to the surface in February 2021. The place of his work will be a 45-kilometer crater called Jezero, on whose territory a river flowed millions of years ago. With the help of his 2.1-meter arm weighing 40 kilograms, he will prey on rocks in which traces of ancient organisms can remain. The study of rocks will also tell a lot about the formation of the planet and its structure.

Rover arm structure

To extract soil samples from the bowels of the planetdrilling rig will be used. The collected materials will be carefully studied in the apparatus’s built-in laboratory, but some of them will be moved inside the containers so that someday they can be sent to Earth to be studied by real scientists. The SuperCam camera, which can analyze soil samples from a distance, take color photographs and record sounds, will also play an important role in the study.

By the way, the Insight also has a drilling rig, but recently it got stuck

At the moment, the assembly apparatus "Mars 2020"produced inside a sterile room located at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Recently, a webcam has appeared in the room, which allows anyone to follow the progress of the new rover assembly. Engineers have already demonstrated the movement of the hand - the video is accelerated and lasts only a few seconds, but the creators of the rover were convinced that not a single part of the body blocks the movement of the limb.

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Also on the rover wheels were installeddiameter of 52.5 centimeters. The device can rotate 360 ​​degrees without moving, because the steering system affects both the front and rear pair of wheels. The creators hope that the speed of the rover can reach 152 meters per hour, and the design will allow it to rise and fall from slopes with a tilt angle of more than 45 degrees. It remains to hope that the device will not have problems with the wheels, like the "Curiosity".

On the wheels "Curiosity" in 2015, there were dents

That's not all: the Martian helicopter is almost ready to be sent to the Red Planet

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