Undoubtedly, this mission also laid the foundation for future Mars exploration missions. The Mars 2020 probe mission will also test the method of generating oxygen on Mars, determine other resources, improve landing technology according to the local climate, etc ... The scientific load of the Mars 2020 probe also needs to determine various conditions that affect astronauts' future life on Mars, such as weather, dust level and other potential environmental conditions.
So when you see this, you may ask, what's the difference between Mars 2020 and Curiosity Mars? In fact, we can understand that the Mars 2020 exploration mission is an upgraded version of the Curiosity mission. In addition, there are many new functions.
Mars 2020 will investigate the interior of Mars, collect internal samples and save them, while Curiosity only needs to study the samples collected on the surface and directly analyze them with its own scientific load.
Mars 2020 probe has some new functions, which means that it must place a larger scientific load at the end of the robotic arm. The tail scientific load includes a core drilling rig and two scientific instruments, plus a color camera for close inspection and a self-timer camera for engineering health inspection.
In addition to managing new sampling operations, Mars 2020 probe can also manage its daily activities more effectively, which means that the core software of Mars 2020 probe is more independent. This allows Mars 2020 to explore more areas in a short time without frequently consulting the controllers on the earth.
In addition, engineers redesigned the wheels of Mars 2020 to make them stronger, and the wheels of Curiosity were worn too much. Therefore, the wheels of Mars 2020 are narrower, larger in diameter and made of thicker aluminum alloy than those of Curiosity.
The "brain" of Mars probe in 2020
The computer module of Mars 2020 probe is called RCE. In fact, there are two same RCEs in structure, so there is always a spare "brain", which can also be understood as a dual-core processor. In addition, in terms of computing performance, the computing speed on Mars 2020 is more than 10 times that of Curiosity.
Mars 2020 carries the radioisotope power system MMRTG. This power system uses radioactive decay heat of plutonium as its energy source to generate current. MMRTG converts the heat generated by natural radioactive decay of plutonium into electric energy, and the heat from MMRTG can also keep the normal working temperature of the rover.
Mastcam-Z
Mastercam-Z imaging can obtain visible color RGB and stereoscopic panorama of the surface of Mars, and its resolution can determine the characteristics of 1mm in the working range of the manipulator. Mastercam-Z has the characteristics of 3-4 cm away from 100 meters.
Mastcam-Z is also equipped with a band-pass filter to distinguish between un-weathered and weathered materials. MastCam-Z also has a pair of solar filters, which can directly shoot solar images.
SuperCAM is an instrument that can provide imaging, chemical composition analysis and analytical mineralogy. The instrument can also remotely detect the presence of organic compounds in rocks and soil. Therefore, it can be understood that SuperCaM is a remote sensing instrument, which uses remote optical measurement and laser spectrum to determine the mineralogy, chemistry and atomic and molecular composition of Mars samples.
In fact, SuperCAM is integrated by many instruments. In the aspect of meta-measurement, it integrates the remote laser-induced breakdown spectrum LIBS of the very successful chemical cam instrument in Curiosity. LIBS can use 1064 nanometer laser to detect targets 7 meters away from the detector.
In addition, SuperCaM also integrates the detection technology of Raman spectrometer in the range of 532 nm, which is used to detect targets with a distance detector 12 meters. In addition, there are TRF spectrum, visible light and infrared visible reflection spectrum. These integrated spectrometers can provide mineralogical and molecular structure information of Mars samples in a certain distance, and can directly investigate organic substances.
PIXL is an X-ray point light spectrometer, which includes a high-resolution imager to determine the fine elemental composition of the material on the surface of Mars. By focusing the X-ray beam on a small point on the sample, PIXL can be analyzed, and the induced X-rays can be analyzed, so that the elemental chemistry can be measured quickly on the submillimeter scale.
High X-ray flux has high sensitivity and short analysis time. Similarly, PIXL can determine the correlation between different elements and surrounding samples in a short time. The simple design of PIXL brings operational efficiency and experimental flexibility. It is an instrument that can adapt to different scientific tasks and produce different scientific functions in different tasks.
SHERLOC is a spectrometer that can provide fine imaging. The load uses ultraviolet laser to determine fine mineralogy and detect organic compounds.
SHERLOC is an arm-mounted deep ultraviolet DUV*** vibrating Raman spectrometer, which uses a 248.6 nm DUV laser with a spot size less than100μ m. The laser can focus automatically and work with other imagers with a spatial resolution of 30m.
SHERLOC works in the range of 7x7mm by using an internal scanning mirror. In addition to the combined spectral and macroscopic imaging components, Sherlock also integrated another camera and a wide-angle terrain sensor named Watson, which can be used to confirm the terrain and help the Mars 2020 probe land.
Mo Xie is conducting an exploratory technology research, which will produce oxygen from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars. How will future astronauts return to Earth after they arrive at Mars? We need to make liquid oxygen propellant on Mars.
Mo Xie can collect carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of Mars, and then decompose carbon dioxide molecules into oxygen and carbon monoxide by electrochemical methods. Then the purity of oxygen is analyzed, and carbon monoxide and other waste gases are discharged back into the Martian atmosphere.
Mo Xie's carbon dioxide collection and compression CAC system sucks the Martian atmosphere from the outside of the rover through a filter, pressurizes it, and then regulates and feeds the pressurized carbon dioxide gas into SOXE, which is electrochemically separated at the cathode, and then produces pure oxygen.
MEDA can measure wind speed direction, relative humidity, air temperature, ground temperature, UX4 visible light discrete band radiation and infrared spectrum range, relative humidity, and the size and shape of dust in Martian air.
MEDA scientific load has its own control system, which wakes up once an hour. After recording and storing data, it will go to sleep, so MEDA is an interesting scientific load with its own system.
RIMFAX is a kind of ground penetrating radar which can provide underground geological structure, and its resolution can reach centimeter level. RIMFAX is based on a wide range of ground penetrating radar applications. Similarly, ground penetrating radar is also applicable to Mars probes. With ultra-wideband design, the theoretical limit can shoot vertical range resolution images of14.2cm..
RIMFAX has several working modes, some for shallow layer and some for deep penetration. The overall goal of RIMFAX is to image underground structures and determine the properties of collected samples. The propagation of RIMFAX radar wave is very sensitive to the dielectric properties of matter, so the change of composition and porosity between geological layers will produce radar reflection, and the surrounding samples can be identified and interpreted by analyzing the reflection data.
In fact, settling on Mars depends on many factors, but one of them is the return trip. How to work on Mars for a while and then return to Earth? What we are doing now is to make fuel on Mars, and then use the landing rocket to return to Earth again. ...
Take off on Mars? It's a bit sci-fi to think about it, but with our continuous understanding of Mars, science fiction is becoming a reality. I believe that in the near future, we can see the first astronaut coming back from Mars.