Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 17

A

fter seven months and about 300
million miles, the Mars 2020
Perseverance rover landed on
the Red Planet on February 18
for a primary mission span of at least
one Martian year (687 Earth days).
NASA chose Jezero Crater as the landing site for Perseverance. Scientists believe the area was once flooded with
water and was home to an ancient river
delta. Conceivably, microbial life could
have lived in Jezero during one or more
of these wet times. If so, signs of their
remains might be found in lakebed or
shoreline sediments. Scientists will study
how the region formed and evolved,
seek signs of past life, and collect samples of Mars rock and soil that might
preserve these signs.

And while Perseverance was designed
to find evidence of ancient life, it will
also be implementing technologies that
could enable future life - human life -
to exist on Mars.

First Leg of a Round Trip
Perseverance is the first leg of a round
trip to Mars. The verification of ancient
life on Mars carries an enormous burden
of proof. Perseverance is the first rover to
bring a sample caching system to Mars in
order to package promising samples for
return to Earth by a future mission.
Rather than pulverizing rock the way
the drill on the Curiosity rover does,
Perseverance's drill will cut intact rock
cores that are about the size of a piece of
chalk and will place them in sample

tubes. The tubes carried in the belly of
Perseverance are about the size and
shape of a standard lab test tube. Made
chiefly of titanium, each sample tube
weighs less than 2 ounces. A white exterior coating guards against heating by the
Sun potentially changing the chemical
composition of the samples after Perseverance deposits the tubes on the surface of Mars. Laser-etched serial numbers on the exterior will help the team
identify the tubes and their contents.
As Perseverance investigates Mars,
mission scientists will determine when
and where it will drill for samples. This
cargo will be packaged in the tubes with
the most intricate and technologically
advanced mechanism ever sent into
space: the Sample Caching System. Of

In this artist's concept, NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter stands on the Red Planet's surface as Perseverance (partially visible on the left) rolls away.
Ingenuity is expected to attempt its first flight test in the spring of this year. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Tech Briefs, March 2021

www.techbriefs.com

Cov

ToC

17



http://www.techbriefs.com

Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021

Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - Intro
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - Cov4
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - Cov1
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - Cov2
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 1
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 2
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 3
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 4
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 5
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 6
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 7
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 8
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 9
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 10
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 11
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 12
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 13
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 14
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 15
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 16
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 17
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 18
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 19
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 20
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 21
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 22
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 23
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 24
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 25
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 26
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 27
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 28
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 29
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 30
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 31
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 32
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 33
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 34
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 35
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 36
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 37
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 38
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 39
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 40
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 41
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 42
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 43
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 44
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 45
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 46
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 47
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 48
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 49
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 50
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 51
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 52
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 53
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 54
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 55
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 56
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 57
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 58
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 59
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 60
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 61
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 62
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 63
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - 64
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - Cov3
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - Cov4
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-Cov1
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-Cov2
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-1
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-2
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-3
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-4
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-5
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-6
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-7
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-8
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-9
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-10
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-11
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-12
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-13
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-14
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-15
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-16
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-17
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-18
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-19
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-20
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-21
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-22
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-23
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-24
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-25
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-26
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-27
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-28
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-29
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-30
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-31
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-32
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-33
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-34
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-35
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-36
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-37
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-38
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-39
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-40
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-Cov3
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - PIT-Cov4
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-Cov1
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-Cov2
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-1
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-2
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-3
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-4
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-5
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-6
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-7
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-8
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-9
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-10
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-11
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-12
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-13
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-14
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-15
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-16
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-17
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-18
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-19
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-20
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-21
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-22
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-23
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-24
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-Cov3
Tech Briefs Magazine - March 2021 - ST-Cov4
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB09B
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB07
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB05B
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB03
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/24TB01
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB11
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB07
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB03
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/23TB01
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/Testing/22TB12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB11
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB07
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB05-P
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB05-D
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB03
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB02
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/22TB01
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB12
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB11
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB10
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB09
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB08
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB07
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB06
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB05
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB04
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21BT03
https://www.nxtbook.com/smg/techbriefs/21TB02
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com