aNewDomain Space — Check out what’s new about planned technology. It’s the Mars 2020 Rover Explained infographic below.
Scheduled for launch in 2020, the Mars 2020 rover will look a lot like the previous rover, Curiosity, which landed on Mars in 2012. And like Curiosity, the Mars 2020 rover will land using the so called “sky crane” platform. As it hovers over the planet’s surface, the rocket-powered sky crane gradually lowers the rover using a system of cables. But the Mars 2020 rover will be lighter than Curiosity. That’s because its instruments and gear will be smaller and more sophisticated.
The real excitement is about a proof-of-concept device called MOXIE, short for Mars OXygen In-Situ Utilization Experiment. That system will suck up poison Martian air and use the CO2 it grabs from the toxic atmosphere to create breathable air. Future life-support systems for astronauts on Mars are likely to use similar tech. Find out more about the recently unveiled Mars 2020 rover plans, below.
Mars 2020 Rover Explained Infographic: via SPACE.com: All about our solar system, outer space and exploration.
For aNewDomain, I’m Gina Smith.
Gina Smith is the New York Times best-selling author of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak’s memoir, iWoz Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer and Had Fun Doing It (W.W. Norton, 2005/2007/2012). With John C. Dvorak and Jerry Pournelle, she is the editorial director at aNewDomain.net. Email her at gina@aNewDomain.net, check out her Google + stream here or follow her @ginasmith888.
Has the current Mars rover provided anything noteworthy? Cool that it got there, but has it really help us out with its research?
-RAP, II