Space has been very fascinating ever since the dawn of time. With the new Perseverance rover that just landed on Mars last February 18, it is to be expected that the news of its safe arrival in Jezero crater would cause the news to blow up, the anticipation of people around the world showing through their support in social media networks. This new Perseverance rover also comes with another piece of work that could lead to new opportunities of improvement in space exploration, also known as Ingenuity, the first helicopter to test flight on another planet.
The Perseverance rover has a whole new set of improvements and new goals, carrying on the legacy of the previous rovers like Curiosity in aiding us in our thirst for more knowledge regarding the Red Planet (or, the universe in general). Perseverance has a very important task of collecting rock and soil samples, and exploring for signs of ancient microbial life that may have existed long ago when Mars held water in its terrain. In order to maximize the rate of success for this mission, the Perseverance rover, as mentioned, holds new softwares and tools that previous rovers did not. For one, the Perseverance rover is capable of maximizing productivity, by allowing the rover to have more freedom to make use of its time and resources as deemed fit. The rover’s camera is also another improvement worth talking about, with its new color images, and overall improved quality of image. To add to this, the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance has also shown new improvements to its wheels, which will prevent damage from the rocky topography of Mars.
On the other hand, Ingenuity will be testing out flight for the first time on another planet, once all preparations are ensured. There are a couple of objectives to be met first, such as autonomous charging and heating. A 30-Martian-day (31 Earth-day) flight window will occur soon after, having as many as four more flights if the first flight is successful. If Ingenuity continues to achieve these milestones, this could give us a whole new perspective—with eyes from the sky, there are bound to be more things we’ll discover and find.
With this new step in space exploration, we are faced with so many concepts we have yet to explore. And though we think we have reached and unlocked the universe’s secrets, in its fading, blinking, void glory—this is just the start.