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- Recently, the Perseverance Mars rover has captured Phobos, Mars’ potato-shaped moon or satellite.
About
- The eclipse was captured with Perseverance’s next-generation Mastcam-Z camera.
- These observations can help scientists better understand Phobos’ orbit and how its gravity pulls on the Martian surface, ultimately shaping the red planet’s crust and mantle
- The last time NASA captured Phobos was in 2004, when the twin rovers ‘Spirit’ and ‘Opportunity’ took the first time-lapse photos of Phobos during a solar eclipse.
- Curiosity, another NASA rover, also shot videos with its Mastcam camera system.
About Perseverance Mars Mission
- The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.
- It addresses high-priority science goals for Mars exploration, including key questions about the potential for life on Mars.
- The mission takes the next step by not only seeking signs of habitable conditions on Mars in the ancient past, but also searching for signs of past microbial life itself.
- It introduces a drill that can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside in a “cache” on the surface of Mars.
Opportunities
- The mission also provides opportunities to gather knowledge and demonstrate technologies that address the challenges of future human expeditions to Mars.
- These include testing a method for producing oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, identifying other resources (such as subsurface water), improving landing techniques, and characterising weather, dust, and other potential environmental conditions that could affect future astronauts living and working on Mars.
Objectives
- Geology: Study the rocks and landscape at its landing site to reveal the region’s history
- Astrobiology: Determine whether an area of interest was suitable for life, and look for signs of ancient life itself
- Sample Caching: Find and collect promising samples of Mars rock and soil that could be brought back to Earth in the future
- Prepare for Humans: Test technologies that would help sustain human presence on Mars someday.
Source:DTE
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