Perseverance Launch & Cruise Options

[nprev]

Great video, and superb obligatory comic.

[PaulH51]

There is a supplementary file here (a c. 18 MB TIF file):

which I think is open access (correct me if I'm wrong), and this gives the names of the nearly 200 quadrangles used for mapping the site. I really wanted to have this for Curiosity, but it was never released, as far as I know.

Phil, wonderful stuff - does the paper provide a scale for this map, specifically the size of each of these quadrangles, also it would be good to know how to attribute it (I dont have access to the paper)
TIA

[Phil Stooke]

Hi Paul - this abstract from LPSC earlier this year:

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2020/pdf/2254.pdf

says the quadrangles are 1200 m by 1200 m.

This is the paper citation:


Stack, K.M., Williams, N.R., Calef, F., Sun, V.Z., Williford, K.H., Farley, K.A., Eide, S., Flannery, D., Hughes, C., Jacob, S.R. and Kah, L.C., 2020. Photogeologic map of the perseverance rover field site in Jezero Crater constructed by the Mars 2020 Science Team. Space Science Reviews, 216(8), pp.1-47.

Phil

[PaulH51]

Many, many thanks Phil, much appreciated.

Hi Paul - this abstract from LPSC earlier this year:

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2020/pdf/2254.pdf

says the quadrangles are 1200 m by 1200 m.

This is the paper citation:


Stack, K.M., Williams, N.R., Calef, F., Sun, V.Z., Williford, K.H., Farley, K.A., Eide, S., Flannery, D., Hughes, C., Jacob, S.R. and Kah, L.C., 2020. Photogeologic map of the perseverance rover field site in Jezero Crater constructed by the Mars 2020 Science Team. Space Science Reviews, 216(8), pp.1-47.

Phil

[climber]

There is a supplementary file here (a c. 18 MB TIF file):

https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art..._MOESM2_ESM.tif


Phil

A lot of mountain regions from near my place including Pyrénées, Ordesa Y Monte Perdido, Pico de Europa...

[Mercure]

Hi all,

Before February 18th I will be trying to get an article about Perseverance into one of the major newspapers of Denmark. I had an article in "Politiken" about the SpaceX Starship just before its December flight test.

Would you know of a good resource with a timeline of all EDL events? - I have been struggling a bit to find a source for all events with the precise Earth time as well as the expected altitude and speed at the time of the event. I'm sure the data is out there, but would like it from an authoritative source.

Thanks!

- Mercure

[mcaplinger]

Would you know of a good resource with a timeline of all EDL events? - I have been struggling a bit to find a source for all events with the precise Earth time as well as the expected altitude and speed at the time of the event.

The EDL timeline is not precisely known in advance but can vary by as much as a minute or two at least.

https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/timeline/lan...escent-landing/ is as good as we know. Predicted landing time is Feb. 18, 2021, at approximately 12:30 p.m. PST (that's 20:30 UT.)

[Mercure]

Thanks mcaplinger!

[Phil Stooke]

There was a Mars Sample Return sample caching workshop today with very interesting details about how Perseverance will go about its task of collecting and caching samples for later return. Here are the presentation slides:


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1fj5ZPFuieC...Dq2OQlq9v6TxN3/


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nRoqv5vK_K...GpDb0tGYUnXlvo/


https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u19Svop3Ka3buHUyaemk2p2-7a1L-ZOC/ ://https://drive.google.com/file/d/1u1...k2p2-7a1L-ZOC/


Phil

[vikingmars]

There was a Mars Sample Return sample caching workshop today with very interesting details about how Perseverance will go about its task of collecting and caching samples for later return. Here are the presentation slides:
Phil

Thanks so much Phil for the useful links.
I have already prepared a PPT presentation for our large Perseverance landing public event next February we (Planetary Society + Societe Astronomique de France/SAF) are organizing in Paris at our National Science Museum (Cite des Sciences).
It integrates the sample-return mission that follows the Perseverance mission.
=>> Now, thanks to you, I have a very good update to show about the latest sampling-cache strategy

[Antdoghalo]

NASA's Eyes show Mars is now a barely resolved circle from the distance of Percy. Just a week away!!!
https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/orrery/#/sc_pers...-02-11T15:51:36

[MahFL]

I thought the sample tubes were dropped as each one was filled . Learnt something new...

[Phil Stooke]

Not a great idea because they want to minimize the time it takes for the 'fetch' rover to pick up the cache. If the tubes are set down all along the traverse the fetch rover has to drive the whole traverse length to get them and then get back to the return vehicle. With the two cache system they decide which cache is best (almost certainly the second one) and go for that, land as close as possible and do a quick trip to collect it. In fact the only real reason for the first cache is insurance against a catastrophic failure of the rover before the second cache can be set down.

Phil

[JRehling]

It's only as I read those excellent documents about the sampling plan that I absorb for the first time that, if all goes well, the scientific results from this mission will be far beyond what the instruments on Perseverance measure. This first occurred to me when I thought about absolute age dating, not from one rock or another, but from several rocks in the stratigraphy, and suddenly we'll have a specific, detailed timeline of Mars's early evolution.

We need a lot of successes to occur before this knowledge will be in hand, but it's awe-inspiring to consider the leap in understanding that this mission sequence is attempting.

[pbanholzer]

I have a question about the current landing target. In two recent EDL animations (Eyes and the one about 3 minutes long), the landing is much nearer the delta face, maybe only several hundred meters away, instead of the earlier point near a 400 m crater more than a km away to the S. I'm answering some questions on YT threads and do not want to provide bad information. Thanks.