60 microchips created at the UPC for Mars 2020 Perseverance reach Mars successfully
A collaborative network to promote the Tunisian textile sector
March 1, 2021
Coppereplace: reduce the application of copper to vineyards and its environmental impact
February 22, 2021The Micro and Nanotechnologies Research Group (MNT) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC) has collaborated with the design, manufacture and calibration of the wind sensor for the MEDA instrument, which is on the NASA mission Mars 2020 Perseverance’. The mission was transported on the rocket Atlas V 541 and successfully launched on 30 July from the John F. Kennedy Space Center, Florida (United States). It landed on 18 February on the surface of the red planet (Mars).
The main aim of this mission, which is part of NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, is to analyse signs of habitability, characterise the geology and the atmospheric dynamics, gather samples to be analysed on Earth in future missions and prepare a future human exploration of Mars. The robotic vehicle will have a drill to extract samples from the surface of the planet that will be put in a receptacle, so that they can be returned to Earth in the mission Mars Sample Return'. Subsequently, these samples could be analysed in laboratories.
The MNT group has participated in all the versions of the wind sensor for the MEDA's instrument, which includes 60 silicon microchips made in UPC, manufactured in the Sala Blanca laboratory on the North Campus of the UPC, in Barcelona. The chips will be used to measure wind direction and speed. The MEDA wind sensor is composed of two cylindrical arms that will come out of the mast of the Mars2020 rover. Like the previous sensors REMS and TWINS, the wind speed and direction are obtained by measuring the tangential wind speeds at different points of each cylinder. In each of these points there are four silicon chips and an additional chip to detect the air temperature. Tangential wind speeds are obtained by monitoring small changes in heat transfer in each block (set of four chips) to the air.
The team of scientists will also participate in calibrating the sensor and in the future recovery of data from Mars, to contribute to a better estimation of the wind and thus a better analysis of the atmospheric dynamics.
Technology
You want to know more?
Related Projects
- The specific research centre Intelligent Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDEAl) at the UPC and the International Centre for Numerical Methods in Engineering (CIMNE) are taking part in the creation of a virtual assistant focused on informing and helping citizens to process social grants via the mobile phone. Gavá and Mataró town councils will be the first to make this service available to their population.
- The research group Barcelona Innovative Transportation (BIT) and the innovation and research laboratory of Barcelona School of Informatics (inLab FIB) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is taking part in the project eBRT2030 (European Bus Rapid Transit of 2030: electrified, automated, connected).
- Currently, buildings are becoming smart organisms due to a wide range of distributed sensors and software programmes that provide them with a certain degree of intelligence. In this context, SUST(AI)N emerged. Participants in this project include researchers from the Instrumentation, Sensors and Interfaces Group (ISI) and the Components and Systems for Communications Research Group (CSC) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC).
- The Centre for Sensors, Instruments and Systems Development (CD6) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya - BarcelonaTech (UPC) is taking part in PhotonHub Europe. This is a European project to establish a single pan-European hub for innovation in photonics as a one-stop shop solution that brings together the pioneering photonics solutions, facilities, knowledge and experience of 53 European partners.
