Among all
the noise of our political squalor, a monumental achievement of mankind has
pass virtually unnoticed. On July 30,2020
NASA launched a remarkable mission to Mars.
The Perseverance Rover was transported, at an average speed of 29,000
miles-per-hour, finally making a successful landing in a river delta, on the
surface of Mars on February 18th.
The science
involved in carrying the rover one-hundred-and-forty-million miles and making a
pinpoint landing at a precise location, is equivalent to hitting a golf ball in
California and making a hole-in-one in New York.
There is a
small window that opens only every 26 months, when the planets are aligned in
such a position that a Mars mission is possible.
Once the
space ship is launched it circles the earth to attain a speed necessary to exit
earth’s gravity. Using gravity assist
the ship slingshots into space, and again using a gravity assist from the sun, the
ship obtains the speed and trajectory necessary to conform to the Mars interception
and landing criteria.
Distance divided by speed equals a landing
date: but it is not that easy. Einstein’s
relativity tells us that gravity bends time and effects trajectory, so
complicated equations must guide the rocket to a precise space/time to launch
the landing vehicle.
Basically, a
projectile has been launched from a moving, rotating ball: Earth rotating at 1,040
miles-per-hour and traveling around the sun at 66,660 miles per hour. This requires advanced physics and mathematics
to set the rocket projectile to intercept another moving and rotating ball at
an exact entry point 140,000,000 miles away.
The science
is mind blowing when you think of it.
There has
been a small percentage of the human population (scientist and mathematicians)
that have advanced the rest of the human race, kicking and screaming, from the
religious dark ages into the techno-society that exist today and into the
future. Most of us enjoy the fruits of
science without heralding the creators: dancing with the ones that brung
us.
But then
there are these:
The Perseverance
Mission is a vanguard mission with the aim of landing astronauts on the moon by
2024, and from the Moon to Mars by 2040.
Perseverance will be searching for prior-life on Mars, exploring the geology, photographing and mapping the terrain, extracting oxygen from the carbon dioxide atmosphere and numerous other science experiments opening the way for future manned mission.
My husband and I watched the Perseverance landing - it gave me gooseflesh! Amazing. Thought you might get a chuckle out of this regarding Science and Texas: http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2021/02/sundy-smiles.html
ReplyDeletePretty exciting alright!
ReplyDeleteamazing. I watched it and hope I'm still here when they land folks on mars..sigh*
ReplyDeleteand to think we sent men to the moon and the guys(mostly black women) used pencil and paper to figure shit out.
Amazing stuff, I remember the thrill of manned space flight in the 1960's, I was in Florida for the first shuttle launches, there truly are rocket scientists.
ReplyDeleteMy brain cannot fathom the calculations necessary to do this. The golf ball I understood. I stand in awe of NASA and their colleagues from other countries who also do this.
ReplyDelete