THIS WEEK @NASA: Mars Perseverance Rover Lifted Onto Atlas V Rocket, ISS Spots Comet Neowise

NASA Increases Investment in U.S. Small Biz to Mature Lunar Tech

ABOVE VIDEO: The Mars Rover gets closer to launch on This Week @NASA.

(NASA) – On Tuesday, July 7, our Mars 2020 Perseverance rover was lifted onto the top of the Atlas V rocket that will send it towards the Red Planet this summer.

Engineers have made physical and electrical connections between the booster and the spacecraft and are conducting the final tests before launch. Perseverance’s mission.

Search for signs of ancient microbial life, study the planet’s climate and geology, and collect samples for possible return to Earth. This mission will help pave the way for human exploration of Mars.

Curiosity Rover’s Mars Summer Trip

Meanwhile, on the Martian surface, our Curiosity Rover began a summer road trip of roughly a mile of steep terrain to ascend Mount Sharp. Curiosity will look for sulfates that usually form around water as it evaporates.

They are a clue to how the climate and prospects for life changed nearly 3 billion years ago.

NASA Increases Investment in US Small Biz to Mature Lunar Tech

Our Moon exploration technologies are getting a boost from additional investments for small businesses. We’ve picked four American companies to develop technologies ranging from communications to improved driving on the lunar surface to use of lunar resources.

These investments are part of our Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and next man on the Moon in 2024.

Lueders Gets Up-Close Look at Artemis I Hardware

Kathy Lueders, the new leader of our human spaceflight efforts, got an up-close look at the booster segments for our Space Launch System or SLS rocket, during a recent visit to our Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The boosters are being prepped for Artemis I, when SLS will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon and back.

ISS Spots Comet Neowise

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station spotted a comet previously discovered by and named after our NEOWISE mission that studies near-earth objects.

Comet NEOWISE will pass harmlessly at 64 million miles from Earth while giving astronomers the opportunity to learn more about its composition and structure.

You can catch a glimpse of the glowing comet in the evening sky shortly after sunset on July 11th as it speeds away from the Sun.

Psyche Mission Update

Our Psyche mission to explore a metal-rich asteroid has passed a crucial mission milestone. The systems designed to do their job in deep space are now ready to be built.

Psyche is planned to launch in 2022 and will fly to its target in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.

That’s what’s up this week @NASA …

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