NASA’s Perseverance spacecraft relies on the weather station and communications antenna built by Airbus
When NASA’s Perseverance spacecraft lands on the surface of the Red planet on Thursday (tomorrow), Airbus technology will accompany it: The MEDA Meteorology station provides scientists with valuable data on Mars weather, while the High Gain Antenna System is a high-speed will provide a communication link.
Perseverance will use seven scientific tools in total, including the MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer) meteorological station designed and built by Airbus to study the biological and geological environment of Mars.
MEDA will measure many environmental parameters using sensors placed along the spacecraft: wind speed and direction, humidity rates, atmospheric pressure, soil and air temperatures, solar radiation, and also the properties of settled dust. These parameters will guide the decisions made to fly the Ingenuity helicopter on the spacecraft.
MEDA is the third Mars peripheral station led by Airbus, which has proven its expertise in this field. The first was produced for the Curiosity spacecraft known as REMS (Rover Environmental Monitoring Station) in 2012 and the second was produced for InSight under the name TWINS in 2018. (Heat and wind for InSight) Both were successful NASA / JPL missions.
All data from Perseverance discoveries will be sent to Earth via the HGAS antenna system designed and built by Airbus, based on an X-band transmitter and receiver antenna that enables high-speed data communication. The antenna is based on microstrip technology developed in-house. Protected against dust to maintain hygienic conditions and thermal stability.
The antenna will directly send scientific data generated by different vehicles and information about the health status of the spacecraft, without the need for interconnections (eg orbits). In addition, the vehicle will receive daily instructions from Earth for its missions. Because the antenna can be steered, it can send a beam of information directly to the Earth without moving the vehicle, which contributes to energy savings.
Extreme thermal discoveries on Mars require extensive thermal endurance tests and qualification of the antenna system at temperatures between -135ºC and + 90ºC. This will be Airbus’ second HGAS antenna system on Mars, 8 years after the first antenna system, which currently continues to work flawlessly with Curiosity.
Mars2020 is the most ambitious Mars mission ever, as it will study the rocks and land of Mars in more detail than ever to find evidence of past life on the planet and preserve signs or traces (bio-signatures) of that life to bring to Earth. Similarly, it will characterize the geological processes that make up the surface and measure the diurnal and seasonal evolution of processes occurring in the Martian atmosphere, including the characterization of dust. Perseverance will also test technologies that will help pave the way for future human exploration on Mars, such as generating oxygen from carbon dioxide in the atmosphere or the first flight of a small helicopter on another planet.
Airbus built Europe’s first spacecraft to Mars – Mars Express, launched in 2003. Airbus also designed and manufactured the Beagle 2 (transported to Mars by Mars Express) surface vehicle, which was unfortunately lost after launch.
Airbus designed and built the ESA ExoMars, Europe’s first spacecraft to another planet. The ExoMars spacecraft was built in a special hygienic bioburden chamber at the Stevenage (UK) facility to comply with planetary protection regulations.
Airbus is working on the next design phase (B2) of the Sample Fetch Rover (SFR) project on behalf of ESA as part of its mission to deliver Mars samples. In 2026, SFR will be launched to Mars and will look for remaining samples from Perseverance. It will collect them and transport them back to the spacecraft and place them in a Mars Ascent vehicle, which will launch them into orbit around Mars.
Airbus is to build the Earth Return Orbiter that will collect samples from Mars orbit and bring them back to Earth. Airbus is the prime contractor for the Earth Return Orbiter (ERO) of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Sample Return mission.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
