Iceland review - 2019, Síða 46

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Iceland Review
An hour’s drive from Reykjavík, we enter a different
world. Volcanic plains, basalt sand, deep craters,
steep ridges. River channels carved out by glacial
meltwater. And a space rover. Welcome to Mars.
Some 50-odd years ago, NASA astronauts trained
for the Apollo 11 moon landing on Icelandic soil. Now,
Iceland and NASA are teaming up again, as the coun-
try’s otherworldly volcanic plains are also the perfect
setting to get acquainted with conditions on Mars.
We’ve come here to the Lambahraun volcanic field
on the north side of Langjökull glacier to witness
the testing of NASA’s Sand-E space rover, which will
search for signs of ancient microbial life on Mars.
The work is part of long-term preparations to send
humans to the red planet.
Fine basalt sand sticks to us everywhere. The rain
and wind fight each other for our attention, beating
our faces. Coarse rocks, crushed from the moun-
tains by glaciers in centuries past, attempt to trip
us at every step. I’ve visited fields like these count-
less times. Yet now, an eerie feeling comes over me.
Somehow, seeing the rover in action, it feels like we’re
on Mars – disconnected from the planet on which we
really stand. It’s a weird emotion, feeling alien in your
native landscape.
Left on Earth
Only a short distance away from the rover, in a bright
orange tent, scientists pore over the data it’s collect-
ing. In order to replicate the rover’s upcoming trip as
closely as possible, the scientists were blindfolded on
their drive to the area: they know nothing about their
surroundings except what the rover is telling them.
For all intents and purposes, the rover is on Mars and
the scientists are on Earth. In a trailer next to the
tent, other researchers are controlling the rover just
as if it were on our neighbouring planet.
This Iceland-based, NASA-funded research proj-
ect goes by the name of Sand-E and is headed by
Canadian company Mission Control Space Services.
Scientists and researchers from NASA’s Johnson
Space Centre; Purdue, Stanford, and Texas A&M
Universities; and MIT are collaborating on the proj-
ect. Students from Reykjavík University also assisted
with preparation, in part by mapping out the area
using drones.
Mars 2020
Sand-E is part of the ambitious Mars 2020 mission,
part of an ongoing project to determine whether life
ever existed on Mars. The mission will test out tech-
nology which could pave the way for humans to even-
tually set foot on the red planet. The ISK 265 billion
($2.1b/€1.9b) mission is set to launch in July 2020,
and is expected to arrive on Mars’s Jezero Crater on
February 18, 2021.
Although the Sand-E prototype rover tested in
Iceland will never touch down on Mars, the technol-
ogy used by its travelling cousin will be the same.
The nuclear-powered Mars 2020 rover is projected
to labour for anywhere between 10 to 20 years out
in the wilderness of space. An aeriael vehicle will
be put to use for the first time in space, the Mars
Helicopter Scout. The first of its kind, this drone will
provide aerial footage of Mars’ surface. Eventually,
NASA intends to send a Mars Fetch rover to bring
back the rock samples collected by the Mars 2020
rover and bring them back to Earth. A subglacial
lake discovered last year below Mars’ southern ice
cap has ignited even further interest in whether
Mars is hospitable to life.