NASA first landed a spacecraft on Mars, including a helicopter: will search for life

(PTI) Washington, Ta. Friday, February 19, 2021

Spacecraft Perseverance, sent under NASA's latest Mars mission Mars 2020, has succeeded in landing on Mars. The spacecraft was launched on July 30, 2020. The spacecraft reached Mars after traveling 472 million kilometers in 203 days. The mission landed on Mars on February 18 at 3:55 a.m. US time.

Seven minutes of landing on Mars was the hardest after reaching the Martian atmosphere. Luckily it maintained stability for seven minutes and landed safely on Mars. When a spacecraft lands on any planet, there is a danger of being pulled into the gravity of the planet-satellite. So landing is the most difficult phase. India's Chandrayaan-2 also crashed while landing on the moon.

NASA has previously sent eight missions to Mars, this is the ninth mission. NASA had earlier landed Insight on Mars in 2018. The landing on Mars was confirmed by NASA's Indian-origin scientist Swati Mohan. This is NASA's largest and most modern mission ever, weighing 1,026 kilograms.

This is because NASA has already sent many lander-rovers to Mars. Also a small helicopter has been sent with this craft. 'Ingenuity' (meaning: ingenuity) Helicopter will be the first vehicle to fly to another planet. Operating a micro-helicopter from the ground is also difficult. The mission will be operational for 25 months.

The main purpose of this NASA mission is to find life on Mars. Right now Mars is a roaring planet and life on it is not possible. But to check whether there was life in the past one has to check its clay reverse. The various devices of Perseverance will do the work. NASA and other private companies are preparing for a similar Mars trip in the future.

The spacecraft will also collect information for them and send it to Earth. The different parts of Mars are named. The spacecraft landed in an area called Jezaro Crater. There were rivers and reservoirs on Mars 3.5 billion years ago. Jezaro is also one such reservoir so its investigation is important.

Preparing to return the sample

NASA intends to get a sample of the Earth from Mars before the end of this decade. For that, you have to plan a mission that can go and come to Mars. That is a big challenge in terms of technology.

Technology has now succeeded in going to Mars. The way back is yet to be paved. But Perseverance devices will keep the Martian soil in the capsule. It will drop the capsule. NASA plans to bring a future mission to Earth.

Important role of Gujarati-Indian scientists

NASA's Gujarati-born, Indian-origin scientists played an important role in this mission. Indian-origin scientist Swati Mohan was the first to announce the successful landing of the mission on Mars. As he is the leader of the crew's landing, navigation, etc. operations team.

Dr. Swati has been in America since she was one year old. In his career with NASA, he did the same in the Cassini spacecraft sent earlier on Saturday. Swati Mohan had a small dot on her forehead while performing the operation. People on social media also took pride in that.

Gujarati-born flight engineer Yogita Shah has been working at NASA for 20 years. He is a flight system engineer. Originally from Gujarat and born in Maharashtra, Yogita played an important role in the design of the spacecraft. He was on the team that designed what kind of mission would look like on Mars.