A team prepares the European Space Agency's ExoMars rover to leave the Airbus plant in Stevenage, England in August. Aaron Chown/AP hide caption
A scheduled joint European-Russia launch of a planetary rover to Mars this summer has been scrubbed, for now. The European Space Agency and Russia's Roscosmos space agency said the ExoMars mission, planned for July, won't happen now until at least the latter part of 2022.
Both space agencies acknowledged items like the rover's parachutes and landing and decent modules were going through final testing, but in announcing the delay , officials said concerns over the coronavirus pandemic were a factor.
Many things are taking place:
China's Mars mission likely still on track for July launch despite coronavirus outbreak | Space
However, the situation currently looks good for China's Mars mission , which will send both an orbiter and a rover to the Red Planet. Work at facilities dedicated to manufacturing and testing spacecraft and launch vehicles has continued despite the impact on the workforce.
This was possible with the introduction of precautions such as the use of masks, banning the use of elevators, serving lunch in individual boxes and disinfection of buildings.
NASA fixed its Mars mole problem in the most unusual way – BGR
NASA’s InSight lander has performed a lot of great work since its arrival on the Red Planet many months ago. It’s provided scientists with insights (no pun intended) into the planet, revealing that marsquakes frequently rumble across its rocky surface, and even sent back timely weather reports. Just about everything is going well for the high-tech robot. Just about.
The one instrument that has seriously failed to meet expectations is the self-hammering “mole” tool that was supposed to dig itself up to 16 deep. Its first attempts were lackluster, and even when NASA tried new techniques, Mars barfed the probe back up again. Now, NASA is pulling out all the stops, and its newest plan appears to be working.
How China is planning to go to Mars amid the coronavirus outbreak
China's first journey to Mars is one of the most anticipated space missions of the year. But with parts of the country in some form of lockdown because of the coronavirus, the mission teams have had to find creative ways to continue their work.
Researchers involved in the mission remain tight-lipped about its key aspects, but several reports from Chinese state media say that the outbreak will not affect the July launch — the only window for another two years.
And here's another article:
Coronavirus hasn’t forced NASA to push back next Mars rover yet
Meet 'Perseverance': NASA's Mars 2020 rover has a new name | Space
Video: Watch NASA unveil the Perseverance Mars rover's name!
More: NASA's Mars 2020 rover Perseverance in pictures
"There has never been exploration — never, never been making history — without perseverance," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said during a name-unveiling ceremony today.
* * *
Like all of NASA's previous Mars rovers, Perseverance was named via a nationwide student competition. The contest kicked off last year and drew 28,000 essay submissions from K-12 students, NASA officials said.
NASA's stuck Mars 'mole' gets helpful push from the InSight lander - CNET
Mars has been very resistant to the NASA InSight lander's burrowing heat probe, but there's a new glimmer of hope for the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package, better known as the "mole."
NASA tweeted an update on Friday saying, "A bit of good news from Mars: our new approach of using the robotic arm to push the mole appears to be working!" A short video shows a before and after look at the mole moving into the martian ground.
The heat probe is designed to take the internal temperature of Mars as part of InSight's mission to learn more about how rocky planets like Earth and Mars form. The mole hammers into the ground and is meant to dig to a depth of 16 feet (5 meters).
Happening on Twitter
While Americans are forbidden from traveling to Europe, 27,000 US troops, armed to the teeth are heading to Europe… https://t.co/tF5HK102ZP ZaidZamanHamid (from Pakistan) Sun Mar 15 08:02:17 +0000 2020
Blaming China for its eating habits for the #CoronaVirus is nothing but pure racism: Plague came from Europe, first… https://t.co/8buoi8qLyz ashoswai (from Uppsala, Sweden) Sat Mar 14 12:32:51 +0000 2020
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