ESA ExoMars Orbiting Ship – Roscosmos detects the Perseverance robot with a hypersonic parachute, heat shield and a landing pad at Jezero crater.
On February 23, ExoMars, a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos), photographed Mars with a tiny point of Perseverance robot on the ground in the distance. ESA released the photo on February 25. In addition to self-propelled robots, there are also supersonic parachutes and rear covers, heat shields and scattered jet landing platforms. These are all important elements in helping Perseverance to land safely on February 18th.
ExoMars was also involved in transmitting important data to Earth while Perseverance landed at Jezero Crater. The spacecraft orbit ESA – Roscosmos, five years before Perseverance, October 19, 2016. Onboard scientific equipment collects and analyzes molecules in the Martian atmosphere. As a result, researchers can clearly understand that gases that exist in very small proportions like methane can be signals of biological or geological activity on distant planets.
ExoMars is also equipped with several cameras. The Stereoscopic and Color Imaging System of the Mars Surface (CaSSIS) captures perseverance at an altitude of about 400 km. The back cover, a small white dot in the left corner of the photo, activates the small jet at the start of the landing to keep Perseverance flying in its path. Next to the back cover is another white dot, the robot’s hypersonic parachute. The parachute comes out when the self-propelled robot slows down to 1600 km / h. When the parachute is opened, the heat shield detaches and falls to the ground, indicated by a dark streak in the right corner of the image. Then Perseverance threw the parachute, starting the engine on the landing pad. As soon as it hits the ground, it cuts the connection cables, causing the landing platform to take off. In the photo, the landing pad is the dark spot between the self-propelled robot and the supersonic parachute.
In addition to transmitting data for NASA missions, ExoMars also helped when Europe’s Rosalind Franklin self-propelled robot and Russian Kazachok landing station reached Mars in 2023.
