2023-08-02 13:45:30
NASA’s MAV (Mars Ascent Vehicle) will star, if all goes as planned, the first launch of a rocket from the surface of another planet.
It will not be the first launch of a rocket from the surface of another star, because that already happened on the Moon a long time ago. But without a doubt it will also mark a before and after in the history of astronautics.
MAV uses two solid fuel engines, SRM1 and SRM2, for the first and second stages of the rocket, respectively.
MAV is vital for the MSR (Mars Sample Return), a project to bring back to Earth samples collected on Mars during another mission. The team that developed the MAV has carried out successful tests of the solid-fuel motors for the first and second stages of the rocket in recent months.
The MSR mission will bring scientifically selected Martian samples to Earth. Thus, they can be analyzed with the most sophisticated scientific instruments in the world, impossible to transport to Mars to do the analysis there.
This initiative, in which the ESA (European Space Agency) collaborates, constitutes the first mission to transport to Earth samples extracted on the surface of another planet. Samples currently being collected by NASA’s Perseverance robotic rover in the delta area of an ancient Martian river may contain traces of ancient Martian life, too subtle to be detected by Perseverance’s instrumentation but surely within reach of the most advanced instrumentation on Mars. the earth.
A test version of the MAV second stage engine being tested in a Northrop Grumman laboratory. (Photo: NASA)
MAV is scheduled to launch into space in June 2028. If all goes according to plan, the samples will reach Earth in the early 2030s.
The MAV will travel aboard the SRL (Sample Retrieval Lander) during the launch from Earth, during the two-year journey to Mars, and during the stay of almost a year on the surface of Mars, the latter period, during the which will receive samples collected by the Perseverance.
After the sample transfer robotic arm on the lander loads the Perseverance samples into a sample container housed in the nose of the rocket, the MAV will blast off from Mars and into orbit around the planet. There it will release the sample container for the ERO (Earth Return Orbiter) spacecraft to capture it. The final stage of the mission will be transport to Earth.
MAV will fly from the surface of Mars to Martian orbit using two solid fuel engines: SRM1 and SRM2. SRM1 will propel MAV away from the Red Planet’s surface, while SRM2 will propel MAV’s second stage to place the sample container in the correct Mars orbit, allowing the ERO spacecraft to find it. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
#Testing #engine #rocket #planet