After nearly 300 million miles (470 million km), NASA‘s Perseverance robber completes his journey to Mars on February 18, 2021. But to reach the surface of the Red Planet, it must survive the gripping final phase known as Entry, Descent, and Landing.
The mission uses technological innovations that have already been successfully demonstrated, especially for entry, descent and landing (EDL). Like NASA’s Curiosity rover, the Mars 2020 spacecraft uses a guided entry, descent, and landing system.Tether to the surface during the final seconds before landing.
This type of landing system provides the ability to land a very large, heavy rover on the surface of Mars in a more accurate landing area than was possible before Curiosity’s landing. Mars 2020 goes one step further. It adds new entry, descent and landing (EDL) technologies such as Terrain-Relative Navigation (TRN). This advanced navigation system allows the rover to detect and avoid dangerous terrain by guiding around it during its descent through the atmosphere of Mars. A microphone allows engineers to analyze entry, exit and landing. It could also capture sounds of the rover at work, which would provide clues to engineers about the rover’s health and operations, and would be a joy to hear.