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Mars Rover Begins Dropping Rock Samples for Future Return to Earth

时间:2022-12-27 03:09:14

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The American space agency NASA's Mars explorer has begun dropping rock samples it collected on the planet's surface. A different spacecraft is to recover the samples at a future date and return them to Earth.

The Perseverance1 explorer, or rover, landed on Mars in February 2021. It has been collecting rock, soil and atmospheric2 samples at Mars' Jezero Crater3 area since September 2021.

NASA officials have said detailed4 study of the samples on Earth will be important to help scientists understand whether life ever existed on Mars.

NASA said Perseverance has collected 18 different samples. The space agency plans to pick up the collected materials during a Mars mission planned for 2028.

The joint5 mission with the European Space Agency would involve a lander spacecraft being sent to Mars along with a small rocket. The samples would be loaded onto the rocket to be transported to Earth. If the mission goes well, the samples could arrive on Earth in 2033.

The samples are kept inside a storage area inside the rover. They are kept inside air-tight titanium tubes to be protected from the severe conditions on Mars. Most of them will be kept inside a container on Perseverance until the return mission happens. But NASA decided6 to drop 10 of them on the planet's surface in case something goes wrong with the ones kept inside the rover.

NASA said the tubes dropped on the surface could be picked up by a helicopter-like vehicle and transported to the rocket to be brought to Earth. The space agency has already demonstrated that its Ingenuity7 helicopter can operate successfully on Mars.

Perseverance collected the samples with robotic equipment attached to the rover. The collection operations are led by NASA mission controllers on Earth. Perseverance has a drill attached to a robotic arm it uses to collect small, circular rock samples from beneath the surface.

NASA said in a statement the first sample container was dropped on the Mars surface by Perseverance on December 21. The agency plans to drop the remaining nine containers over the next two months.

Perseverance will be releasing the samples in an area of Jezero Crater known as "Three Forks." Scientists believe Jezero Crater contains the remains8 of an ancient river system. NASA considers the area a good place to find possible signs of microscopic9 life. Scientists believe if life ever existed on Mars, it would have been present 3 to 4 billion years ago, when water flowed on the planet.

Meenakshi Wadhwa is a scientist from Arizona State University who helps lead the scientific team of the Mars Sample Return program. She said the samples collected so far represent a good mix of different kinds of rock and soil found in the area being explored by Perseverance. The rover still has more than 20 empty containers that can be used in the collection mission.

NASA officials said the operation to drop samples on the surface of Mars has been complex. This is because the chosen sites must be reachable by both flying and driving vehicles.

Richard Cook is the Mars Sample Return program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

He said once the 10 drop areas were identified, the team then had to map out exactly how the rover could effectively get to those places to deploy10 the samples. "You can't simply drop them in a big pile because the recovery helicopters are designed to interact with only one tube at a time."

The team decided to create an "area of operation" stretching about 5.5 meters for each dropping point. The tubes are to be dropped about five to 15 meters apart from one another.

NASA said mission controllers will be examining numerous images captured by the rover to assist them in deciding where to drop the samples. The images will also help the team identify exactly where the samples are in case they are covered in sand or dust before they are collected.

Words in This Story

sample – n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from

mission – n. an important project or trip, especially involving space travel

drill – n. a tool or machine used for making holes in a hard substance

air-tight –adj. secured so that air cannot enter

pile – n. a collection of a number of objects placed on top of each other


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1 perseverance oMaxH     
n.坚持不懈,不屈不挠
参考例句:
  • It may take some perseverance to find the right people.要找到合适的人也许需要有点锲而不舍的精神。
  • Perseverance leads to success.有恒心就能胜利。
2 atmospheric 6eayR     
adj.大气的,空气的;大气层的;大气所引起的
参考例句:
  • Sea surface temperatures and atmospheric circulation are strongly coupled.海洋表面温度与大气环流是密切相关的。
  • Clouds return radiant energy to the surface primarily via the atmospheric window.云主要通过大气窗区向地表辐射能量。
3 crater WofzH     
n.火山口,弹坑
参考例句:
  • With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
  • They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。
4 detailed xuNzms     
adj.详细的,详尽的,极注意细节的,完全的
参考例句:
  • He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
  • A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。
5 joint m3lx4     
adj.联合的,共同的;n.关节,接合处;v.连接,贴合
参考例句:
  • I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤,肩膀脫臼了。
  • We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。
6 decided lvqzZd     
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
参考例句:
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
7 ingenuity 77TxM     
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造
参考例句:
  • The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
  • I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。
8 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
9 microscopic nDrxq     
adj.微小的,细微的,极小的,显微的
参考例句:
  • It's impossible to read his microscopic handwriting.不可能看清他那极小的书写字迹。
  • A plant's lungs are the microscopic pores in its leaves.植物的肺就是其叶片上微细的气孔。
10 deploy Yw8x7     
v.(军)散开成战斗队形,布置,展开
参考例句:
  • The infantry began to deploy at dawn.步兵黎明时开始进入战斗位置。
  • The president said he had no intention of deploying ground troops.总统称并不打算部署地面部队。

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