The Perseverance Rover and a Great First Month on Mars
Planetary Radio: Space Exploration, Astronomy and Science
The Planetary Society
4.8 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 2021
⏱️ 60 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Deputy project scientists Katie Stack Morgan and Ken Williford are living on Mars time and living for Mars. We get an update from them on the work of the Mars 2020 rover. Perseverance is already accomplishing terrific science after just 5 weeks on the Red Planet. Katie and Ken also tell us what’s ahead, including launch of Mars helicopter Ingenuity. Then it’s checkmate as Bruce Betts makes his next move across the night sky in What’s Up. There’s more to discover at https://www.planetary.org/planetary-radio/katie-morgan-ken-williford-perseverance-first-month
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Five weeks on Mars and just getting started, this week on Planetary Radio. |
| 0:06.0 | Welcome. I'm at Kaplan of the Planetary Society with more of the human adventure across our solar system and beyond. |
| 0:35.0 | And that is what it sounds like to take a drive on Mars. |
| 0:39.0 | Can it really have been five weeks since we celebrated the landing of the Mars 2020 rover? |
| 0:45.0 | You're about to hear that it has been a very busy month plus for perseverance and its human counterparts here on Earth. |
| 0:52.0 | We'll welcome co-deputy project scientists Katie Stack Morgan and Ken Willeford for a report on what has already been accomplished and what's ahead, including the first flight by ingenuity, the Mars helicopter. |
| 1:05.0 | You'll also hear the sound of the rover's supercam laser zapping rocks. |
| 1:10.0 | Then we'll take to the skies with Chief Scientist Bruce Betts for a WhatsApp that is as hot as the plutonium that keeps perseverance rolling. |
| 1:19.0 | We'll stay on the red planet for this first story drawn from the downlake our free newsletter. |
| 1:24.0 | The inside lander has once again found use for that scoop. |
| 1:29.0 | You know, the one Troy Hudson told us they almost removed before launch. |
| 1:33.0 | Now it has been used to bury the tether leading to that exquisitely sensitive seismometer that has detected hundreds of Mars quakes. |
| 1:42.0 | This will result in even better data. |
| 1:45.0 | Were you watching when the core stage of NASA's big space launch system rocket was tested once again? |
| 1:51.0 | This time it burned for a full eight minutes meeting every measure of success. |
| 1:56.0 | Soon it will head for the Kennedy Space Center and the Moon. |
| 1:59.0 | The agency still hopes to launch the Artemis one mission late this year. |
| 2:04.0 | We've got more at Planetary.org slash downlake including a gorgeous new image of Jupiter taken by the Juno Orbiter last month. |
| 2:13.0 | You don't want to miss the galaxy's largest bowling ball. |
| 2:17.0 | Here is the sound of Supercam blasting rocks from high atop the Perseverance rover mast. |
| 2:28.0 | Okay, it's not exactly a phaser rifle, but you got to admit pretty cool. |
| 2:32.0 | And you'll hear in minutes how those little clicks are adding to the science underway on Mars. |
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