MARS 2020 begins its journey to Mars: we analyze Perseverance instruments

A new stage begins in the exploration of Mars. The SUPERCAM and MEDA instruments installed on the NASA rover have been developed with the collaboration of UPV-EHU researchers. On time, minutes before 2 in the afternoon, the rocket that will take NASA's Perseverance rover to Mars has taken off . A journey of almost seven months awaits him until he reaches his destination, Jezero crater, on February 18. A gigantic impact crater that in a remote past housed a delta, and it is that ancient presence of water that makes it an attractive place for a mission that, among other objectives, will search for traces of past life on the red planet.The study of Mars carried out through robotic missions in orbit and on the surface in recent decades has shown that the red planet was once very different from the planet we know today, arid and cold. The evidence collected points to the existence of humid conditions present billions of years ago that could lead to the development of microbial life. The Perseverance rover , which is the size of a car, carries seven scientific instruments on board. Among them is MEDA, an environmental station, in which researchers from the Planetary Sciences group of the UPV-EHU and the SUPERCAM instrument have collaborated, a tool capable of carrying out remote chemistry and mineralogy analyzes based on five types of analysis from the rocks and soil of Mars. The calibration plate for the five analytical techniques has been developed by a consortium of Spanish universities in which researchers from the Ibea group of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the Basque Public University participate. This calibration plate, in the words of Juan Manuel Madariaga, head of the IBEA group,it is something never seen before, a plate of less than 20 cm in diameter, capable of withstanding temperature and pressure conditions that put any tool to the test and of calibrating the measurements of five different analytical techniques. The plate, by the way, has been manufactured in Elgoibar by the AVS company. In addition, at Planeta Aranzadi we present today the Bihotz Berdeak initiative , a project to train young naturalists from 12 to 15 years old. tech tech tech tech tech tech tech tech tech tech