A little over a week ago (February 18th, 2021), NASA’s Perseverance rover landed in the Jezero crater on the surface of Mars. In what was truly a media circus, people from all over the world tuned to watch the live coverage of the rover landing. When Perseverance touched down, it wasn’t just the mission controllers at NASA who triumphantly jumped to their feet to cheer and applaud.
In the days that followed, the world was treated to all kinds of media that showed the surface of Mars and the descent. The most recent comes from the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO), which is part of the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars program. From its vantage point, high above the Martian skies, the TGO caught sight of Perseverance in the Jezero crater and acquired images that show the rover and other elements of its landing vehicle.
Since 2016, the TGO has orbited Mars and gathered vital data on the composition of its atmosphere. Specifically, TGO has been looking for traces of atmospheric methane and other gases that could be the result of geological or biological activity. These efforts are part of a larger effort to determine if life existed on Mars billions of years ago (and whether or not it still does).
Image of Perseverance and mission elements, as captured by the orbiter’s CaSSIS camera on Feb. 23rd, 2021. Credit: ESA
In addition, the orbiter has conducted other important scientific operations, like relaying data from robotic missions on the surface and acquiring images of space. On February 23rd, the TGO took advantage of its orbit to snap pictures with its Colour and Stereo Surface Imaging System (CaSSIS) that showed the Perseverance rover – as well as its parachute, heat shield, and descent stage elements – within the Jezero crater.
In the first image (above), the elements are discernible as a series of dark and bright pixels, which are indicated in the second image (below). As you can see, the descent stage and heatshield are dark spots spaced around two smaller craters while the parachute and backshell are visibly bright spots in close proximity to each other. The Perseverance rover, near the bottom center, is a relatively faint spot by a small ridge leading from one crater.
It is here that Perseverance will spend the next two years (which will likely be extended) searching for signs of past microbial life. Based on its features, which include a preserved river delta and clay-rich sedimentary deposits, the Jezero crater is known to have hosted a standing body of water billions of years ago. For this reason, it was selected as the landing site for the mission, since it is believed to be a good place to find evidence of past life.
Perseverance will also conduct an ambitious and unprecedented operation, where it will collect samples of Martian rocks and soil and set them aside in a cache. These will be returned to Earth by a separate ESA-NASA Mars Sample Return mission that will consist of a lander, a rover (to retrieve the samples), and small launcher (for launching them to orbit). Once there, an orbiter will pick them up and bring them home for analysis.
Close-up of the images taken by the TGO of Perseverance and mission elements in the Jezero crater. Credit: ESA
The orbiter will continue to provide data relay support between Earth and Mars for future missions to the surface, particularly the the next ExoMars mission. Known as ExoMars 2022, this mission will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Sept. 20th, 2022, and arrive at the Red Planet by June 10th, 2023. It will consist of the Russian Kazachok surface platform and the Rosalind Franklin rover.
Meanwhile, the Trace Gas Orbiter will continue to orbit Mars and conduct its own science operations, focusing on the analysis of Mars’ atmosphere and the search for gases that point the way towards past (or present) life. Recently, the orbiter detected traces of hydrogen chloride gas leaving the planet’s atmosphere, indicating that this salt exists on the surface which made it to orbit.
On Earth, this process has been observed with sodium chloride salts, where salt water evaporates from our oceans and is pushed into the upper atmosphere by strong winds. The TGO has also monitored water vapor leaving the Martian atmosphere and escaping to space. Together, these findings have provided new clues as to where the abundant surface water Mars had billions of years ago escaped to.
Orbital picture of the Jezero crater, showing its fossil river delta. Credit: NASA/JPL/JHUAPL/MSSS/BROWN UNIVERSITY
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.
