Learn about the Mars Rover, the Mars Helicopter & Lava Tubes on Mars with with Dr Adrian Brown, planetary scientist from NASA Ames Research Center. Dr Brown discusses the search for water on Mars, the engineering marvels of the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter, and the mysterious lava tubes that could serve as future shelters.
Originally from Melbourne, Dr. Brown’s diverse career includes serving as a pilot in the Royal Australian Navy and completing a PhD in astrobiology focused on the ancient rocks of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, which serve as a geological analogue for Mars.
[00:00:13] Dr. Adrian Brown is the Deputy Program Scientist for NASA’s 2020 Mars mission. Originally from Melbourne, his career spans electrical engineering, computer science, and service in the Royal Australian Navy as a pilot before joining NASA Ames Research Center and the SETI Institute to search for life in the universe.
Hunting for Lava Tubes
[00:01:46] Scientists believe lava tubes exist on the Moon and Mars. On Mars, we detect them using orbital photography to look for “skylights”—holes in the surface where the roof of a tube has collapsed. These openings often look like a dark pit on an otherwise flat volcanic plain, like the area around Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system.
[00:02:42] The Perseverance rover carries a ground-penetrating radar (RIMFAX) that allows us to see “stratigraphy,” or the layers beneath the surface. While we haven’t found lava tubes at our current landing site yet, this radar provides fascinating data about the ground beneath the rover’s wheels.
Evidence of Liquid Water
[00:03:41] We have known about water ice at the Martian poles for as long as we have had telescopes, but finding evidence of liquid water is the real challenge. Perseverance landed in Jezero Crater, a 45-kilometer-wide impact site that contains an ancient river delta.
[00:05:42] The delta in Jezero is roughly 10 kilometers across. We know it was formed by liquid water because we see one-meter-wide boulders that were moved by high-energy water flows billions of years ago. To form a delta like this, you need a river pumping sediment into a long-lived lake, which then slows down and drops its sediment onto the crater floor.
Sampling and “Atmospheric Samples”
[00:10:10] Collecting the first Martian rock sample was not without its hurdles. The team’s first attempt failed because the Martian rock was much softer and “more crumbly” than the terrestrial models tested at the JPL lab in California. The rock essentially fell apart during drilling, leaving the tube empty of rock but full of Martian air—which the team now calls our “atmospheric sample.”
[00:11:25] Success came later with a rock named “Rochette,” where we successfully collected and sealed titanium tubes containing rock cores. These samples are stored on the rover and will eventually be jettisoned for a future Mars Sample Return mission to pick up and bring back to Earth around 2030.
Ingenuity: The Mars Helicopter
[00:16:36] Ingenuity is a solar-powered drone that has far exceeded its original five-flight goal. Flying on Mars is incredibly difficult because the atmosphere is less than 1% as thick as Earth’s. To generate lift, Ingenuity’s rotors must spin at a staggering 2,800 RPM.
[00:19:45] Interestingly, flying becomes even harder during the Martian winter. On Earth, cold air is thicker and easier to fly in, but on Mars, winter causes the CO2 in the atmosphere to freeze onto the polar caps. This makes the air even thinner, requiring the engineers to ramp up the rotor speed even further to stay airborne.
[00:21:12] While it might be tempting to use the helicopter’s air blast to clean dust off the rover’s cameras, NASA is very “risk-averse.” The helicopter must stay in its own “keep-out zone” to ensure it never accidentally collides with the Perseverance rover.
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