Originally tasked with only five test flights to prove its "pioneering" technology, NASA's Ingenuity Helicopter has completed its 50th flight on Mars, exceeding all expectations, the US space agency said.
That transportation is expensive: ferrying the needed 30 tonnes of methane and LOX is estimated to cost around $8 billion. To reduce this cost, NASA proposed using chemical catalysis to convert Martian CO2 into LOX, but this still requires methane to be transported from Earth.
InSight scientists spend much of their time searching for bursts of vibration in seismograms, where the tiniest wiggle on a line can represent a quake or, for that matter, noise created by wind.
He would not rule out a faster pace in the later stage of the rover’s mission, depending on its operational state at the time.
"The big implication here for subsurface exploration science is that wherever you have groundwater on Mars, there's a good chance that you have enough chemical energy to support subsurface microbial life,"
"Oxygen isn't just the stuff we breathe. Rocket propellant depends on oxygen, and future explorers will depend on producing propellant on Mars to make the trip home," Reuters said.
"#MarsHelicopter touchdown confirmed! Its 293 million mile (471 million km) journey aboard @NASAPersevere ended with the final drop of 4 inches (10 cm) from the rover's belly to the surface of Mars today," NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, tweeted late on Saturday.
NASA shared a recording of the sounds made by Marsquake, Martian winds and the robotic arm of the probe.
Season 2 of National Geographic’s series MARS –returns with a six-episode arc continuing in last season’s unique hybrid format: alternating scripted and documentary sequences to predict what life will be like on the Red Planet forecasted by what’s happening today on Earth.
Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, will be 57.6 million kilometres from Earth on Tuesday, the closest it has been since 2003
