Issue18: Resuming the ExoMars mission?, Meteoroid impact excavated chunks of ice, Mars Express celebrate Valentine's day & much more
Missions
•Resuming the ExoMars mission?: As reported earlier, ExoMars rover won't be launching this year, European scientists will request €360m to reconfigure the spacecraft & to maintain the ongoing ExoMars orbiter. Using the funds, they will replace all the Russian components with the American & European ones & do some upgrades, launching in 2028!
•(NASA/ESA) MSR's new phase: Mars Sample Return mission has entered into a new phase in which team will finalize the Preliminary design & technology, engineering prototypes, assessment of software & hardware, etc…
•Percy to setup “The Sample Depot”: Percy is collecting two samples of the same rock. It will drop off one set of samples & keep the other one with itself & setup the first depot near the ancient river delta, “Three forks” area.
•Sample Tubes are even more important: (NASA/ESA) MSR's sample tubes team is testing the sample tubes to ensure that the tubes will survive during every phase of the mission. They may use Titanium crushables to serve as a bed for sample tubes dropped by the reentry spacecraft!
•Japan-Australia partnership: In the bilateral meeting, Australia agreed to support JAXA for landing MMX mission's sample return capsule in the Australia, in 2029.
•Mars rover on the Moon?: Since NASA replaced the fetch rover with mini helicopters in the MSR mission, fate of UK's ‘fetch’ rover has became uncertain. Currently in Bedfordshire quarry facility, the small-scale Martian rover may launch to the Moon under the European Large Logistics Lander (EL3) project. Under this project, they will land a handful “helping” rovers on the Moon once at a time!
And the project scientists are utilising the Mars Study Contract funds to land the Martian rover on the lunar surface!
•Ingenuity takes flight after more than a month: On Nov 10, 2022, Ingenuity takes a short hover flight, Flight 34 with zero horizontal distance.
•Testing landing gear for Mars: To land superheavy payloads on Mars, NASA is testing their new expandable aeroshell under the LOFTID - Low-Earth Orbital Flight Test of an Inflatable Decelerator- Project! This new EDL technology is more sophisticated to fit inside the rocket & to provide enough atmospheric drag.
NASA revealed that the test was a success & everything went according to the plan!
•InSight team ready for pack up: With every passing day, InSight's power is declining & the seismometer is turned on after every one or two weeks, just for few hours! And the team will abort the mission once the lander miss out on two consecutive calls of the team.
Meanwhile, team is storing all the data & will make accessible to the public soon.
Research & Observations
•Hope's new dataset released: From the 5th dataset, researchers worked out the following results:-
•Meteoroid impact excavated chunks of ice near the Martian equator: Last year, InSight detected a marsquake of magnitude 4 & two months later, MRO observed chunks of ice that were not present before. Team analysed the data carefully & confirmed that these ice chunks are excavated by a meteoroid impact. The impact created 150 m wide & 21 m deep crater with ejecta flew as far as 37 km from the impact!
•Mars Express to perform handful flybys across Phobos: Since MEX received a major software upgrade, it can now study the Martian moon, Phobos in detail. On September 23, 2022, he sent the radio signals & using the reflected signals, he created a radargram. Team has planned more flybys across the moon between 2022 to 2025.
•Clues to the Martian climate change mystery: Curiosity is currently surveying the sulfate-bearing unit of Mount Sharp, believed to have formed when the climate was drying up. The region is enriched with salty minerals, which might have been left behind by past streams & ponds!
Imagery
Galilean & Martian moons celebrated Valentine's day: Mars Express Orbiter captured the Mars moon, Deimos passing in front of Jupiter & its four major moons
Recommendation
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