Within 3 hours of successfully launching ‘Perseverance’ rover to explore the surface of Mars, NASA revealed that it has currently lost contact with the rover.
However, they also said this has happened before and expects the communication link to be back soon.
Perseverance was successfully launched atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on 7:50am, Eastern Time. When the engineers tried to make contact with the rover’s signals via the deep space network, the rover returned no signal.
Jim Bridenstein, who heads NASA, says that the issue at hand is not the lack of a signal but failing to lock on to one signal to fully receive the information. He emphasized that this kind of interruption was already expected, adding that things are “in great shape”.
The issue was reportedly first identified when the rover first tried to establish a comm link with the ground team within the first hour. Successfully transmitting data with scientists on Earth is the first and one of the most important steps in any space exploration program.
The rover is not much bigger than any large car, and has six wheels. A 4 pound helicopter titled Ingenuity has been launched alongside Perseverance, and is said to study the atmosphere of the red planet.
Estimated land time on Mars is February 18th next year. It has been programmed to land in Jezero crater. Scientists believe that the crater used to hold water up to 3.5 billion years ago.
After collecting multiple samples and specimens by drilling into Mars’ surface, a subsequent rover is to retrieve those samples and return back to Earth in 10 years. Scientists hope to learn more about the geological history of the planet via this mission.
Although the launch date was delayed three times because of weather conditions, today’s launch took place with no issues at all. NASA’s chief said that he is aware of the world’s expectation, and said he was happy the launch was successful because it can only be attempted once every 26 months.
The rover was renamed as Perseverance after asking children to choose a name. NASA scientists said the name is appropriate because perseverance is what Covid-19 forced upon everyone that was involved with the launch.
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Replaced!