Weighing about 550 pounds, the six-foot-long Orpheus drone cost nearly $2 million to build and was named for the Greek poet and prophet. The main goal for this next-generation mini-submarine that was engineered and constructed by WHOI in Massachusetts, will be to increase our knowledge of the deepest areas of our planet’s oceans known as the hadal zone.
This exotic region is represented by radical trenches and troughs as deep as 20,000 to 36,000 feet, replicating challenges and conditions that might pop up while investigating watery environments on other planets and moons. There are quite a few similarities between Earth s deep ocean and space exploration, said JPL roboticist Russell Smith during a May 5 virtual press conference regarding parallels that include data-constrained communication, requiring a lot of autonomy, but also challenging environmental conditions that require a lot of engineering work to deal with.
The new underwater vehicle, called Orpheus, relies on autonomous navigation software developed by NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California for the Mars Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter. The primary task for the mini-submarine, which was built by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts, will be to advance humanity s understanding of the deepest regions of the oceans, the so-called hadal zone.
With trenches and troughs as deep as 20,000 to 36,000 feet (6,000 to 11,000 meters), the hadal zone presents similar challenges to those experienced by exploration vehicles on other planets, Russel Smith, a roboticist at JPL, said during an online news conference on May 5.
Touchdown: NASA’s Perseverance rover ready to search for life on Mars
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WASHINGTON, Feb 19, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – After seven months in space, NASA’s Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed maneuvers to gently float down to the Martian soil Thursday and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life.
“Touchdown confirmed,” said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 GMT), as mission control at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers.
The autonomously guided procedure was in fact completed more than 11 minutes earlier, the length of time it took for radio signals to return to Earth.
Touchdown: NASAâs Perseverance rover lands on Mars, ready to search for life
By AFP
Issam Ahmed and Lucie Aubourg
Washington - After seven months in space, NASA s Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed manoeuvres to gently float down to the Martian soil Thursday and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life. Touchdown confirmed, said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55 pm Eastern Time (2055 GMT), as mission control at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers.
The autonomously guided procedure was in fact completed more than 11 minutes earlier, the length of time it took for radio signals to return to Earth.
The East African
Friday February 19 2021
French President Emmanuel Macron stands in front of a screen broadcasting the landing of NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the planet Mars in Paris on February 18, 2021. PHOTO | AFP
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After seven months in space, NASA s Perseverance rover overcame a tense landing phase with a series of perfectly executed manoeuvres to gently float down to the Martian soil Thursday and embark on its mission to search for signs of past life. Touchdown confirmed, said operations lead Swati Mohan at 3:55pm Eastern Time as mission control at NASA s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena erupted in cheers.