The Mars Fleet

Related pages

• Related

  • 
    ID: 13828 Produced Video

    Welcome to the Next Wright Brothers Moment: NASA Ingenuity Helicopter Days Away From First Test Flight on Mars Live Shots

    April 6th, 2021
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Click here for link to Ingenuity press kit. Includes information and links to b-roll.Check out raw images from the Mars Perseverance Rover here.Make your own paper Mars helicopter!Perseverance took a SELFIE with Ingenuity!Check out the CLOSE UP of Ingenuity || NASA’s Small But Mighty Ingenuity Helicopter Is Gearing Up For Historic Test Flight On MarsThe first-ever powered, controlled flight on another planet is just days away!History in the making: NASA is targeting Sunday, April 11 for Ingenuity Mars helicopter’s first attempt at powered, controlled flight on another planet. The small but mighty helicopter arrived on Mars attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover. Ingenuity is a technology experiment with a narrow scope and limited duration (only a month), aiming to pave the way for more ambitious aerial exploration of other planets in the future. As Ingenuity makes its historic flights, it also carries with it a piece of history from Earth: a piece of the original Wright Brothers plane. Flying on Mars isn’t easy: the atmosphere is thin (about 1% the density of Earth’s atmosphere). Ingenuity has to spin its blades much faster than at Earth to get enough lift and be very light (about 4 pounds or 1.8 kg). The first test flight involves lifting off, climbing to 10 feet (3 meters), hovering for about 30 seconds, and then descending.This flight will be the first in a series of test flights that will last up to 31 Earth days (30 Martian days or sols), each building in complexity if the previous flight went as planned. These tests will set the stage for future missions to include advanced robotic flying vehicles, collect high-resolution images from the air and survey sites that are difficult for rovers to reach.NASA experts are available for one-on-one virtual interviews on Friday, April 9th from 6:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT - two days before this historic flight - as well as limited opportunity Saturday, April 10th and Sunday, April 11 - the day before and the day of this historic test - to talk about what NASA hopes to accomplish with this ambitious first flight. Want to have some fun demonstrating Ingenuity for your viewers? You can make a paper version! The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed a way for people to experiment with Ingenuity’s design on paper to see what works best. You can find everything you need to participate here build your own!To Schedule an interview: Please fill out this form**: https://forms.gle/6dbMULmkBe7yj9HNA**Please note: requests received after 5:00 p.m. EDT on Thursday, April 8 may not be accommodated. Requests may not be accommodated if sent in via email.Interviews will be conducted using video chat programs including Zoom and Skype, in 15-minute slots. For example 600-615 ET, 615-630 EDT, etc. Our preferred program is Zoom. Satellite interviews are not available. Please do not use an IFB unless necessary.*Spanish Interviews are available*Suggested QuestionsIn 118 years we’ve gone from the first flight of a powered aircraft by the Wright Brothers to today’s test of powered aircraft on another planet. What is NASA hoping to learn from this historic test flight? What makes flying on Mars so difficult?Ingenuity is carrying a little piece of history with it. Can you tell us what that is?What is the first test flight for Ingenuity going to be like? Ingenuity hitched a ride to Mars on the belly of the Perseverance Rover that landed in February. How did it get to the surface?How will this help with future missions, crewed or robotic, to Mars?Where can our viewers go to keep up with Ingenuity?Questions for longer interviewsHow difficult was it to design this small but mighty helicopter?How did your team even figure out it was possible to fly a helicopter on Mars?Suggested anchor introIt’s incredibly difficult to fly in such thin air, but NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter is about to attempt just this feat at Mars. Ingenuity is a very small spacecraft -- about the size of a tissue box -- but it has some big ambitions. Joining us today to talk about this historic test is … ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 13803 Produced Video

    Destination Mars! On February 18 NASA’s Newest and Most Ambitious Rover Lands on the Red Planet

    Feb. 8th, 2021
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Click here for Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover press kit.Quick link to cut B-ROLL for the LIVE SHOTSQuick link to canned interview with KEITH COMEAUXQuick link to PROMO for Spanish language show || Game Day! Join NASA In The Excitement As We Countdown To Landing On The Red Planet After six months, more than 300 million miles and seven precarious minutes... On February 18, NASA begins an epic and unparalleled exploration of Mars with the landing of its newest rover. As the first rover to land on the red planet since 2012, the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover is the agency’s most ambitious rover yet. The SUV-sized rover will explore Mars in search of signs of ancient life, collect samples of Martian rocks and sediment for future return to Earth, study the planet’s geology and climate, and pave the way for human exploration beyond the Moon. Throughout all of this, it will also collect the first sounds from the Red Planet, allowing us to hear what Mars sounds like! Perseverance is landing in the most challenging Martian terrain ever targeted: an area known as Jezero Crater. Scientists want to explore and investigate Jezero Crater because they believe it was once filled with flowing water, and perhaps had the right environment that could have supported ancient microbial life. But Jezero is also a dangerous area to land in because it has steep cliffs, sand dunes, and boulder fields. NASA team members will be available for virtual one-on-one interviews on Wednesday, February 17 from 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. EST and Thursday, February 18 from 6:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. EST. The capsule carrying Perseverance enters Mars’s atmosphere at 3:48 p.m. EST and lands at 3:55 p.m. EST on Thursday, February 18. ** Interviews will be conducted using video chat programs including Zoom in 15-minute slots. For example 600-615 ET, 615-630 ET, etc. Satellite interviews are not available. ** Interviews are available in Spanish**. List of participating scientists will be added next week. To book an interview please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Li4ow3zAXj5FgKQK9 *If you are looking to book a radio or podcast interview, please contact victoria.j.woodburn@nasa.gov or fill out the following form: https://forms.gle/2aE3Kbhsn3udmdjG7 * Please note the following changes to the form:Our preferred video chat program is now Zoom and you will need to provide us with the Zoom link. No IFB interviews will be done. (If you require an IFB please reach out to michelle.z.handleman@nasa.gov) All taped radio interviews will be done over Microsoft Teams. We will provide you with the Microsoft Teams link. Suggested Anchor/Host Intro: TOMORROW / TODAY IS THE DAY NASA WILL LAND THE FIRST ROVER ON MARS IN NEARLY A DECADE. PERSEVERANCE WILL SEARCH FOR SIGNS OF LIFE, COLLECT THE FIRST SAMPLES THAT WILL BE RETURNED BY A FUTURE MISSION, AND PAVE THE WAY FOR HUMAN EXPLORERS. JOINING US TODAY TO TALK ABOUT THIS MISSION IS ______. Suggested Questions:Perseverance is the first rover to land on Mars since Curiosity in 2012. What makes this rover special?Perseverance is going to an intriguing place on Mars that scientists believe was an ancient lakebed. What will the rover be studying there?I hear that the rover is landing in quite a dangerous part of Mars. What will be going through your mind during the landing?Perseverance will be collecting samples of Martian rock and soil. What will happen to those samples?What are you most looking forward to learning with Perseverance?How can our viewers watch the landing and stay up-to-date on this mission? Questions for longer interviews:I hear the rover also has a sidekick. Can you tell us what Ingenuity is and what it's trying to test for the first time?Thanks to Perseverance, we’re actually going to hear what Mars sounds like for the first time. What are you most excited to hear?How does this mission set the stage for future human missions to Mars?How difficult is it to send a rover to Mars? ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4702 Infographic

    MAVEN Aerobraking to Achieve Science and Relay Orbit

    Feb. 11th, 2019
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Aerobraking plan for MAVEN. (left) Current MAVEN orbit around Mars — 6200-km highest altitude, and an orbit period of ~4.5 hours. (center) Aerobraking process — MAVEN performs a series of “deep dip” orbits approaching to within ~125 km of Mars at lowest altitude, causing drag from the atmosphere slow down the spacecraft. Over roughly three-hundred and sixty orbits spanning about two months, this slowing reduces the spacecraft’s highest altitude to ~4500 km and its orbit period to ~3.5 hours. (right) Post-aerobraking orbit, with reduced altitude and shorter orbit period. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 20252 Animation

    Phobos Electric Charging

    Oct. 18th, 2017
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The interaction of the solar wind with the Martian moon Phobos creates a complex electrical environment that could impact future exploration. Complete transcript available.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Music provided by Killer Tracks: "Innovations" by Pascal Lengagne || Mars has two moons, Phobos and Deimos. Both are small, airless bodies with irregular shapes. Because they lack protective atmospheres and magnetospheres, Phobos and Deimos are directly exposed to the solar wind for part of their orbits. The solar wind is a stream of electrically charged particles constantly blowing off the surface of the sun at about a million miles per hour; as it collides with the moons, it is thought to create complex electrical environments.Now, a simulation by William Farrell of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has revealed the details of Phobos's interaction with the solar wind. The simulation predicts that static electric charging occurs on the night side of Phobos and within its shadowed craters. Phobos is frequently cited as a target for future exploration, but according to the study, any robots or humans roving around the night side could build up static electric charge that might affect sensitive equipment. Mission planners will have to face this challenge as they set their sights on the moons of Mars.Learn more about the finding from NASA or read the science paper by Farrell et al. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4346 Visualization

    MAVEN Stellar Occultation Atmospheric Coverage

    Sept. 2nd, 2015
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Visualization depicting NASA's MAVEN satellite in an elliptical orbit around Mars. The horizon is scanned to determine atmospheric makeup. Blue sections of the atmosphere represent regions that have been scanned, and total coverage is achieved after roughly six orbits. This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission, or MAVEN, is the first spacecraft specifically designed to study the Mars upper atmosphere. MAVEN’s goal is to understand how Mars lost its thick, early atmosphere to space, and how this in turn caused it to lose its once hospitable climate.MAVEN’s orbit gives it the most comprehensive view of the Martian atmosphere to date. Circling the red planet every 4.5 hours on an elliptical path, MAVEN passes close to the north and south poles at an inclination of 75 degrees. This allows MAVEN to gather a north-south swath of data with each pass. At the same time, Mars itself rotates eastward beneath MAVEN, giving the orbiter longitudinal coverage. The combination of MAVEN’s orbit and Mars’ daily rotation provides a complete picture of the Martian atmosphere every day.While previous Mars orbiters have peered down at the planet's surface, MAVEN is spending part of its time gazing at the stars, observing the Martian atmosphere through a series of stellar occultations. As Mars rolls beneath MAVEN, due to the spacecraft's own orbital motion, background stars rise and set behind the planet. Their light dims as it passes through the tenuous atmosphere, with specific gases absorbing specific wavelengths. MAVEN uses its Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph to break apart this light and see which wavelengths are absorbed, allowing it to determine atmospheric composition at varying altitudes. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4192 Visualization

    Mars Fleet and Comet Siding Spring

    Oct. 9th, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    This visualization shows NASA’s fleet of Mars orbiters, landers, and rovers during the planet’s close encounter with Comet Siding Spring. C/2013 A1, better known as Comet Siding Spring, will make a remarkably close pass of Mars on October 19, 2014. At closest approach, Comet Siding Spring will come within 82,000 miles of the Red Planet – just one-third of the distance from the Earth to the Moon. During the flyby, NASA will position its Mars fleet both to protect it from comet dust, and to make observations of the comet and its effects on the upper atmosphere of Mars. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4181 Visualization

    MAVEN: Insertion Orbit

    Sept. 4th, 2014
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission (MAVEN) spacecraft was launched on a 10 month journey to Mars on November 18, 2013. MAVEN is expected to arrive in Mars orbit on Sept 21, 2014 EDT. MAVEN's mission is to investigate the upper atmosphere of Mars and its interactions with the Sun and solar wind. This will help scientists understand why Mars lost many volatile molecules form its atmosphere such as CO2, N2, and H2O.This visualization shows MAVEN's approach and orbit insertion around Mars. MAVEN's initial orbit is highly elliptical. The tail behind MAVEN changes to red to indicate the period during which thrusters are fired for orbit insertion. A separate visualization shows the transition from the insertion orbit to the more circular science orbit. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4190 Visualization

    MAVEN: Science Orbit

    Sept. 4th, 2014
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    This visualization shows how the MAVEN spacecraft orbit changes as it progresses from the initial, highly elliptical entry orbit to a somewhat less elliptical orbit and finally to the science orbit. || MAVEN's orbit transitions from the insertion orbit to a tighter science orbit ||

    Read more

• Used as a source in

  • 
    ID: 13625 Produced Video

    First Map of Mars Electric Currents

    May 25th, 2020
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    MAVEN data have enabled the first map of the electric current systems (blue and red arrows) that shape the induced magnetic field surrounding Mars.Credit: NASA/Goddard/MAVEN/CU Boulder/SVSUniversal Production Music: “A Lucid Dream” and “Shimmer Oscillations” by James Joshua OttoWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Five years after NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft entered into orbit around Mars, data from the mission has led to the creation of a map of electric current systems in the Martian atmosphere. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a protective global magnetic field to shield its upper atmosphere from the solar wind. Instead, the solar wind crashes into the upper atmosphere and its magnetic field lines drape around the planet. This creates an induced magnetosphere that tugs on charged particles in the Mars upper atmosphere, generating electric currents. Now, MAVEN’s detailed measurements of the magnetic environment surrounding Mars have revealed the shape of these electric currents for the first time.Read the science paper in Nature Astronomy. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4436 Visualization

    GMM-3 Mars Gravity Map

    March 21st, 2016
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Scientists have used small fluctuations in the orbits of three NASA spacecraft to map the gravity field of Mars. Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || Goddard Mars Model (GMM) 3 is a global map of the gravity field of Mars. It was created by studying the flight paths of three Mars-orbiting spacecraft — Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), Mars Odyssey (ODY), and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).The travel time and Doppler shift of radio signals sent between the spacecraft and the Earth-based dish antennas of the Deep Space Network are used to measure the position and velocity of each spacecraft. Over time, small variations in these orbital parameters allow scientists to build up an accurate and detailed gravity map of the red planet.If Mars were a perfectly smooth sphere of uniform density, the gravity experienced by the spacecraft would be exactly the same everywhere. But like other rocky bodies in the solar system, including the Earth, Mars has both a bumpy surface and a lumpy interior. As the spacecraft fly in their orbits, they experience slight variations in gravity caused by both of these irregularities, variations which show up as small changes in the velocity and altitude of the three spacecraft.The free-air gravity map shows these variations directly. The map is color-coded to display the departure from the mean gravity of Mars, in milligals, a unit of acceleration. Purple and blue mark areas where the acceleration due to gravity is lower than average, while red and white show where it's higher.The Bouguer gravity map subtracts the effect of the bumpy surface to show the lumpiness underneath. The elevation maps from the laser altimeter on MGS were used to create a model of what the gravity would be if Mars were bumpy but not lumpy. This model was then subtracted from the free-air map to produce the Bouguer map.The crustal thickness map is inferred from the Bouguer map: If the density of the crust is assumed to be uniform, then the gravity anomalies visible in the Bouguer gravity map can be explained by variations in the thickness of the crust. Highs in gravity indicate places where the denser mantle is closer to the surface, and hence where the crust is thinner.The orbit analysis accounted for solar radiation pressure and for the mass and the drag of the thin Martian atmosphere. It also detected the seasonal variation in the amount of carbon dioxide locked up in the polar ice caps as they freeze and thaw.While aiding navigation for future Mars missions, GMM-3 reveals information about the internal structure of Mars that provides important clues to the geological history of the red planet.Learn more about the GMM-3 Mars gravity map.Correction: The surface of the natural-color globe was mapped incorrectly in the initial release of this page. The error was corrected on April 1, 2016. ||

    Read more
  • 
    ID: 4370 Visualization

    Solar Wind Strips the Martian Atmosphere

    Nov. 5th, 2015
    (updated Aug. 25th, 2023)

    Scientists have long suspected the solar wind of stripping the Martian upper atmosphere into space, turning Mars from a blue world to a red one. Now, NASA's MAVEN orbiter is observing this process in action, providing significant data on solar wind erosion at Mars.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.This video is also available on our YouTube channel. || Today, Mars is a global desert with an atmosphere far too thin to support bodies of flowing water, but evidence shows that Mars was considerably wetter in the ancient past. Scientists think that climate change on Mars was caused by the loss of an early, thick atmosphere, and NASA’s MAVEN mission is investigating whether it was driven into space.One of the prime suspects is the solar wind, a stream of electrically charged particles continuously blowing outward from the Sun. Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a global magnetic field to deflect the incoming solar wind. Instead, charged particles from the Sun crash into the Mars upper atmosphere, and can accelerate Martian ions into space. Now, MAVEN has observed this process in action – by measuring the velocity of ions escaping from Mars.The movies on this page compare simulations of ion escape with MAVEN’s observations of oxygen ion flux. The results closely fit the expected pattern, with the most energetic ions (in red) accelerated in a plume above Mars, while the majority of escaping ions (green) are lost along the “tail” region in the wake of the solar wind. MAVEN’s observations confirm that the solar wind is a significant contributor to atmosphere loss on Mars, and they bring scientists closer to solving the mystery of the ancient Martian climate. Read the full press release about this finding.Watch the November 2015 MAVEN Science Update. ||

    Read more