Miscellaneous

[Airicist]

New: Mars In 4K

Jul 17, 2020

A world first. New footage from Mars rendered in stunning 4K resolution. We also talk about the cameras on board the Martian rovers and how we made the video.

The cameras on board the rovers were the height of technology when the respective missions launched.

A question often asked is:
‘Why don’t we actually have live video from Mars?’

Although the cameras are high quality, the rate at which the rovers can send data back to earth is the biggest challenge. Curiosity can only send data directly back to earth at 32 kilo-bits per second.

Instead, when the rover can connect to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, we get more favourable speeds of 2 Megabytes per second.

However, this link is only available for about 8 minutes each Sol, or Martian day.

As you would expect, sending HD video at these speeds would take a long long time. As nothing really moves on Mars, it makes more sense to take and send back images.

[Airicist]

Making oxygen on Mars

Jul 28, 2020

MOXIE, short for the Mars OXygen In situ resource utilization Experiment, is one of the seven experiments hitching a ride on the NASA Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover. It's a collaboration between MIT AeroAstro, the MIT Haystack Observatory, and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Carbon dioxide makes up about 96 percent of the gas in Mars' atmosphere. MOXIE contains a system that pulls in Martian air and electrochemically splits the carbon dioxide into oxygen and carbon monoxide, and an onboard sensor will allow us to measure the purity of the oxygen we generate. MOXIE will help us get ready for future missions by demonstrating that we can make our own oxygen on Mars to use for rocket propellant and for the crew to breathe when we get there.

AeroAstro graduate student Eric Hinterman has been working on MOXIE since 2016, when he started modeling the MOXIE software and hardware as part of his Master’s thesis. He has continued his work as a PhD candidate, where he is looking at the design and engineering challenges of scaling up the MOXIE technology to a full-size system that could support human life on a Mars mission in the future.

[Airicist]

WATCH: Elon Musk at 2020 Mars Society Event - Livestream

Streamed live Oct 16, 2020

It's been over four years since Elon Musk first revealed his audacious plan to lay the foundation for a city on Mars. Now the SpaceX founder and leading Martian real estate evangelist will give an update on his interplanetary opus at this year's virtual Mars Society convention.

[Airicist]

How to land on Mars: an explainer

May 21, 2021

May.20 -- A journey through the final minutes.

[Airicist2]

Article "How to create an artificial magnetosphere for Mars"

by Ruth A. Bamford, Barry J. Kellett, James L. Green, Chuanfei Dong, Vladimir Airapetian, Bob Bingham
November 12, 2021

[Airicist2]

Looking for Life on Mars | Full Documentary I NOVA | PBS

Premiered Feb 25, 2021

Follow along as NASA launches the Mars 2020 Mission, perhaps the most ambitious hunt yet for signs of ancient life on Mars.

The spacecraft will blaze into the Martian atmosphere at some 12,000 miles per hour and attempt to lower the Perseverance Rover in the rocky Jezero Crater, home to a dried-up river delta scientists think could have harbored life. Perseverance will comb the area for signs of life and collect samples for possible return to Earth. Traveling onboard is a four-pound helicopter that will conduct a series of test flights—the first on another planet.

During its journey, Perseverance will also test technology designed to produce oxygen from the Martian atmosphere, in hopes that the gas could be used for fuel—or for humans to breathe—on future missions.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
03:42 Mars: Exploring The Red Planet with the Curiosity Rover
09:49 Looking Life in the Jezero Crater of Mars
14:56 Preparing the Perseverance Rover for Mars
22:23 The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Launch of Rover
25:22 The Launch of the Perseverance Rover
30:07 Attempting to Fly a Copter on Mars
33:58 Creating Breathable Air on Mars
38:32 How Will the Samples Come Back to Earth?
44:13 The Suspenseful Landing of the Perseverance Rover on Mars

topdocumentaryfilms.com/looking-life-mars