The engine of the second stage of the MAV rocket for the flight from Mars has been tested on Earth
By ForGeeks
Northrop Grumman has successfully tested the second stage engine of the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV) rocket. The vehicle will be the first ever to launch from the surface of another planet. The MAV plays a critical role in the international program to return Martian samples to Earth.
The Mars Sample Return program is one of the most ambitious in the history of space exploration. The Perseverance rover is currently collecting soil and rock samples, placing them in sealed containers. In the future, a specialized rover will pick up these containers and take them to the launch pad, where a robotic arm will transfer the samples to the MAV.
Mars Sample Return is the largest Mars Sample Return mission in the history of space exploration.
The rocket, which has a height of about three meters and a mass of 450 kg, consists of two stages. Once launched, it should reach a speed of 4 km/s in just ten minutes and take a sample capsule into near-Mars orbit. There it will be captured by another spacecraft to be sent back to Earth.
At a test site in Maryland, engineers tested the MAV’s second stage using a new type of rocket fuel. The fuel is expected to consist of ammonium perchlorate with aluminum powder in a polymer binder.
The fuel is expected to be made up of ammonium perchlorate with aluminum powder in a polymer binder.
The The second-stage engine of a MAV rocket for a flight from Mars has been tested on Earth was first published on ITZine.ru.
