Our next Mars rover is on its way …
Preparing for the historic return of a Commercial
Crew mission …
And naming the crew for a future mission … a
few of the stories to tell you about – This
Week at NASA!
“And liftoff … as the countdown to Mars
continues.
The perseverance of humanity launching the
next generation of robotic explorers to the
Red Planet.”
On July 30, our Mars 2020 Perseverance rover
launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
in Florida.
Perseverance will be our first Mars rover
to collect samples from another planet for
future return to Earth, which makes this mission
groundbreaking in more ways than one.
“The samples from Mars have potential of
profound change of our understanding in the
origin, evolution and distribution of life
on Earth and elsewhere in the solar system.”
The rover will land in a region of Mars that
provides an excellent opportunity to find
signs of past microbial life – a primary
goal of the mission.
It will also collect important data about
the planet’s geology and climate, and carry
a host of technology – including the first
ever experimental helicopter on Mars.
“We as human beings have never flown a rotorcraft
outside of our own Earth’s atmosphere, so
this will actually be, very much a ‘Wright
Brothers moment’.”
Other instruments, materials and technologies
making the trip will pave the way for future
human missions to Mars, our ultimate goal
and next logical step after sending the first
woman and next man to the Moon in 2024, as
part of our Artemis program.
“It can’t be lost on people at how unique
of an opportunity this is.
If you’re in elementary school today, you
may be in college when we make an amazing
discovery that would transform how we talk
about history and science.”
Astronauts Doug Hurley, Bob Behnken, and Chris
Cassidy held a news conference from the International
Space Station on July 31, in advance of Hurley
and Behnken’s scheduled undocking from the
station and return to Earth.
“It was just an incredible experience and
one that I will absolutely never forget and
I’ll always cherish.”
The historic NASA SpaceX Demo-2 test flight
is the first crewed spaceflight with NASA
astronauts on a privately owned spacecraft.
NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan
McArthur will be joined by Japan’s Akihiko
Hoshide and European Space Agency astronaut
Thomas Pesquet on Crew-2, the second operational
SpaceX Crew Dragon flight to the International
Space Station.
The mission is currently targeted for launch
in spring 2021.
NASA satellite data showed around 8 inches
of rain in parts of southern Texas and northeastern
Mexico from Hanna, the first Atlantic Hurricane
of the season.
Hanna made landfall in southern Texas as a
Category 1 storm, before eventually weakening
and continuing into Mexico.
Our Hubble Space Telescope has looked back
billions of years in time to help fundamentally
change what we know about the universe.
The latest episode of our “Hubble – Eye
in the Sky” video series – titled, “Time
Machines,” examines how Hubble will work
with the James Webb Space Telescope to revolutionize
our understanding of the universe even further.
You can find the video series and other Hubble
material at nasa.gov/hubble.
That’s what’s up this week @NASA …
For more on these and other stories, follow
us on the web at nasa.gov/twan.
