(Image credit: ESA-SJM Photography)
Is it cake? No, but it’s baked to perfection.
What is it?
Sitting wrapped up neatly in a donut-shaped bag sits a parachute measuring nearly 115 feet (35 meters) across and weighing 163 pounds (74 kilograms) — and it has to be baked in an oven to get prepared for Mars.
But don’t worry, the parachute was given time to cool down and rest after baking (we’re serious).
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This parachute, made primarily of nylon and Kevlar fabrics, was created for the European Space Agency’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover, expected to launch to the Red Planet in 2028.
Wondering why this Mars-bound parachute needs to be baked? Well, it’s part of a mission-critical step known as planetary protection. In short, this step ensures the mission doesn’t accidentally carry any hitchhiking microorganisms to Mars.
Why is it incredible?
The ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover is expected to spend over two years (at least) exploring the Martian surface while searching for signs of life.
The question of whether life has ever existed on Mars is one that scientists are eager to answer. And, with incredible findings from NASA’s Curiosity rover spotting organic material on Mars to NASA’s Perseverance rover finding possible signs of biosignatures, we seem to be getting closer to that answer.
But if the life we find on Mars is life we carried there on a piece of Kevlar by mistake, it could have serious consequences beyond just the mission. So, to send a rover to Mars safely, we may have to bake the equipment like cakes.
To ensure that no microscopic critters snuck their way onto the parachute before launch, the wrapped up parachute was placed in a specialized oven in a secure clean room at ESA’s Life Support and Physical Sciences Laboratory at the agency’s technical center in the Netherlands.
Following a 50-hour preheating process in this special oven, the parachute was baked at 257 degrees Fahrenheit (125 degrees Celsius) for 36 hours. This ensured all the layers and corners of this massive piece of gear were perfectly sanitized.
And, just like a perfectly baked cake, the team gave it some time to cool down after baking before wrapping it up to remain clean and ready to be enjoyed.