EYE OPENER
A light
touch
CALIFORNIA, USA
An engineer uses a solar
intensity probe to carefully
measure the amount of
artificial sunlight reaching
different parts of NASA’s
Mars 2020 rover, at the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in
California. Using this
crucial data, scientists will
be able to determine how
this robotic scientist will
interact with the Sun while
on the Martian surface.
For the test, powerful
xenon lamps were used to
simulate the Sun, as the
spectral output of xenon is
similar to that of our star.
The lamps were
illuminated several floors
below the craft, then
bounced off a mirror at the
top of the chamber onto
the rover.
Based on the design of
Curiosity, which landed on
Mars more than seven
years ago, the newly
named Perseverance rover
will carry new instruments,
including a helicopter
drone. The Mars Helicopter
will hitch a ride in the
rover’s belly, then will be
placed on the surface of
the Red Planet to test the
first-ever powered flight in
thethinMartian air.
EYE OPENER
NASA/JPL
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