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Image Credits: NASA/Joel Kowsky
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PERSEVERANCE Launch a Success! Next Stop, Mars!
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Explore Mars, Inc. congratulates NASA, United Launch Alliance, and their partners on the successful launch today of the Perseverance rover on its voyage to Mars. This mission carries an extraordinary suite of experiments that could benefit future human missions to Mars, and could confirm whether Mars was ever home to indigenous life. "Perseverance is the most ambitious robotic mission that NASA has ever attempted," commented Explore Mars, Inc.’s CEO Chris Carberry. "If successful, it will serve as a significant precursor not only to initial human missions to Mars, but also help answer how future explorers will be able to live on Mars sustainably."
Perseverance is targeted to land on February 18, 2021 in Jezero Crater, a site that is believed to have been filled at various times with water in the distant past, and it contains a fan-delta deposit rich in clays. According to NASA, microbial life could have lived in Jezero during one or more of these past wet times. If so, signs of their remains might be found in lakebed or shoreline sediments.
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PERSEVERANCE
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INGENUITY
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Just a few of the experiments carried by Perseverance include:
- Sample Return: Perseverance will collect samples on the surface of Mars that will be collected by a future rover later this decade, and then returned to Earth. This will be the first time samples from Mars have ever been returned to Earth for further analysis.
- MOXIE [Mars Oxygen In-Situ-Resource Utilization (ISRU) Experiment]: This will be the first in-situ resource utilization experiment performed on Mars. If successful, MOXIE will produce a small amount of oxygen utilizing the carbon dioxide of the martian atmosphere. It will help determine whether future human explorers will be able to ‘live off the land’ on Mars.
- Search for life: Perseverance will also search for evidence of past life on Mars. If this experiment confirms that there was life on Mars, it will be first time we detected non-terrestrial life – transforming our understanding of life in the universe.
- Ingenuity: Ingenuity, a small helicopter, will be the first aircraft to fly on Mars. Utilizing this type of drone technology will be extremely valuable to future human explorers enabling them to remotely observe hard-to-reach locations such as cliff sides and caves.
“As we celebrate the launch of Perseverance and the rover that will pave the way for human exploration, let us also celebrate every scientist, researcher, engineer, artist and technician that has used their time and talents for this mission. Let us remember that rockets and rovers roar into space using two forms of fuel. One is the liquid in the rocket’s tanks. The other is the fuel in the human heart,” said Explore Mars, Inc’s President, Janet Ivey. “BIG SPACE dreams are fueled by the raw stuff of the human spirit: excitement, awe, and desire. These emotions power us to see what we can accomplish when we dream it and build it together.”
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Miss the Live @ExploreMars Launching Perseverance Web Event this morning?
Check it out here:
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The 2020 Humans to Mars Summit (H2M) Goes Virtual!
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Join us for ‘Virtual’ H2M 2020! As a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and with the desire to assure the health and safety of our attendees, speakers, sponsors, and other guests, the 2020 Humans to Mars Summit will now be virtual. The virtual edition of H2M 2020 will take place on August 31-September 3, 2020.
"We have gained an enormous amount of experience over the past several months with our compelling and interactive online programming, as well as with creating very successful virtual social activities,” commented Explore Mars CEO Chris Carberry. “While we wish that we could come together in person later this summer, our virtual H2M 2020 will be an extraordinary event for extraordinary times and will be viewed by thousands of people around the globe."
Just a few of the many exciting topics that will be discussed include:
- The World Goes to Mars: A panel discussion about the convoy of international missions that will be sent to Mars in 2020 and beyond
- Space Exploration: A Unique Opportunity for Diversity and Equality
- Lessons from COVID-19 – And How to Apply to Mars Exploration
- The Moon in 2024/Mars in 2033: Opportunities and Challenges- A look at current Architecture
- Managing Planetary Protection
- Inspiring the Future: The Power of Mars and STEAM
- Influencing Mars: Utilizing social media to get humans to Mars
- Entry, Descent, and Landing on Mars
- In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) and Surface Power on the Moon and Mars
- The Human Factor: Maintaining Human Health on Mars Missions
- Selecting Landing Sites for Humans on Mars
- Creating Reliable Environmental Control and Life Support Systems (ECLSS)
In addition, Virtual H2M 2020 will feature online social activities, special guests and musical acts, and ongoing interviews by our Master of Ceremonies, Mat Kaplan.
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Just a few of our speakers include:
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JAMES MORHARD
NASA
Deputy Administrator
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Rep. KENDRA HORN
U.S. House Chair, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, US House Science, Space and Technology Committee
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KATHY LUEDERS
NASA
Associate Administrator, HEOMD
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CHARLES BOLDEN
Former NASA Administrator
Former NASA Astronaut
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LORI GLAZE
NASA
Director, Planetary Science Division
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ALAN STERN
NASA
Planetary Scientist; Principal Investigator, New Horizons mission
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SIAN PROCTOR
Geoscientist, Analog astronaut
Explorer
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MAT KAPLAN
Planetary Radio
Host
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MARY LYNN DITTMAR
Coalition for Deep Space Exploration
CEO
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TIM CICHAN
Lockheed Martin
Space Exploration Technology Architect
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VERA MULYANI
Mars City Design
CEO
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CLIVE NEAL
University of Notre Dame
College of Engineering
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TANYA HARRISON
Planet Federal
Planetary Scientist
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JOE CASSADY
Aerojet Rocketdyne
Executive Director, Space
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JANET IVEY
Explore Mars, Inc.
President
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KARINA PEREZ
AIA
Manager, Strategic Initiatives
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"Our intention for the Explore Mars 2020 Humans to Mars Summit is to further expand our organization's efforts to highlight our commitment to public outreach, STEM education and at the same time foster and celebrate humanity's diversity," said Janet Ivey, President of Explore Mars. "I am exceedingly proud that in these very trying times for all humanity, Explore Mars is taking the lead in utilizing the tools of modern technology to provide the 2020 Summit in a format that can be readily viewed by people of all ages and backgrounds and from all around the world."
Details regarding the H2M 2020 web platform as well as a detailed agenda will be made available shortly. Meanwhile, plans are underway for the 2021 Humans to Mars Summit that will take place on May 11-13, 2021 at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC. More details on this event will be announced during the virtual 2020 H2M.
Explore Mars, Inc., is a registered 501(c)(3) Non Profit. All donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowable by law.
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