NASA Mars 2020 Rover (build and mission thread)

[Jim K 15,717]

Launch is scheduled for: July 30, at 7:50 a.m. ET  --- two-hour launch window

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NASA’s Perseverance Rover Ready for its Ride to Mars

 

NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is now attached to the rocket that will carry it on its seven-month journey to the Red Planet for the agency’s Mars 2020 mission.

 

On Tuesday, July 7, a team of engineers fastened the payload fairing, containing the rover and remainder of the spacecraft – the aeroshell backshell, descent stage and cruise stage – to a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V booster inside the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41 in Florida. The rocket’s upper stage and spacecraft will remain attached until about 55 minutes after launch, after which the two will separate, sending Perseverance on its solo journey to Mars.

 

With the spacecraft and booster now connected, final testing of the two – separately and together as one unit – can begin. Once those tests are complete, the rocket will leave the VIF on the morning of July 28 for its journey to the launch pad – just 1,800 feet away.

 

NASA and United Launch Alliance are now targeting Thurs., July 30, at 7:50 a.m. ET, with a two-hour window, for launch of the Mars 2020 mission. The team identified the cause of the issue with the liquid oxygen sensor line found during Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR). A small leak was located in the weld of the line, which has been repaired and tested.

 

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NASA

 

[Jim K 15,717]

It's alive...

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Plutonium power source installed on NASA’s next Mars rover

 

The nuclear power generator for NASA’s Perseverance rover has been installed on the spacecraft atop an Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral, and mission managers gave a green light Wednesday to continue preparations for the rover’s July 30 launch toward Mars.

 

The rover’s Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator, or MMRTG, was transferred from a preparation building to the Atlas 5 rocket’s Vertical Integration Facility, and was hoisted by crane onto a work platform near the top of the 197-foot-tall (60-meter) launcher.

 

Technicians inserted the power generator through an access door on the Atlas 5’s payload shroud, then placed the device on the aft end of the Perseverance rover through an opening on the spacecraft’s backshell, which encloses the rover and its landing system during the journey from Earth to Mars.

 

The 99-pound (45-kilogram) unit was installed onto the rover Monday, according to Mary MacLaughlin, a NASA spokesperson.

 

After connecting mounting bolts and mating electrical lines, ground crews powered up the rover using the newly-installed MMRTG.

 

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A Launch Readiness Review on Monday, July 27, is expected to give approval for ULA to transfer the Atlas 5 rocket from its vertical hangar to pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station the following day. That will set the stage for countdown preparations and filling of the Atlas 5 rocket super-cold propellants early on July 30, when the mission has a two-hour launch window opening at 7:50 a.m. EDT (1150 GMT).

 

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SpaceFlightNow

 

 

 

[Jim K 15,717]

Less than an hour away from launch (Launch at 7:50 a.m. EDT)

 

Livestream is ... ummm ...live.

 

 

[Jim K 15,717]

Successful launch and separation of Mars 2020 with the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter... it's on its way.

 

Landing on Mars on February 18, 2021.

 

 

[Jim K 15,717]

...and the spacecraft is talking to mission control.  So, everything is looking good.