- 3483 - MARS - after a year with Perseverance Rover? The dramatic touchdown on Mars for the Perseverance rover and the Ingenuity helicopter occurred on February 18, 2021. The incredible video astronomers received of the landing from the rover sky-crane lowering Perseverance to the planet’s surface is nothing short of amazing.
--------------------- 3483 - MARS - after a year with Perseverance Rover?
- The Mars 2020 rover has been on Mars for over 355 Martian days, or sols. A Mars year is 668 sols. In the past (Earth) year, the six-wheeled, one-armed nuclear-powered mobile science lab has traversing through Jezero Crater, a location that very likely contained a lake billions of years ago.
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- Perseverance has been using the drill on the end of its robotic arm to collect samples of Martian rocks. Collecting these samples is the first step of an eventual Mars Sample Return campaign. The samples Perseverance has been collecting will provide a key chronology for the formation of Jezero Crater.
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- Jezero features some of the oldest rocks Mars scientists have been able to study up close. The scientists say those rocks will have recorded and preserved Mars’ past environments, and perhaps even signs of ancient microscopic life.
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- Bringing back a sample from this heavily cratered surface in Jezero could provide a tie-point to calibrate the Mars crater dating system independently, instead of relying solely on the lunar one.
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- Perseverance broke a record for the most distance driven by a Mars rover in a single day, traveling almost 1,050 feet. This took place on February 14, 2022, the 351st Martian day, or sol, of the mission.
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- The rover performed the entire drive using “AutoNav“, the self-driving software that allows Perseverance to find its own path around rocks and other obstacles.
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- One of the biggest surprises of the mission has been the rover’s buddy, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. No one knew for sure it would work to fly the tiny helicopter in the thin Martian atmosphere, and the original plan had the helicopter taking up to five flights over the span of about 30 days.
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- Instead, ‘Ginny’ has now completed 19 flights over the past 10 months and is still going strong. The team says the helicopter is providing a new perspective of Martian terrain and helping Perseverance’s team to plan the path ahead.
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- Perseverance will actually be heading back towards its landing site. This back-tracking was in the mission plan, as the team wanted to first explore a rocky portion of the crater floor called “South Séítah“. That was the first phase of the mission, which will soon be wrapping up.
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- The second phase of the rover’s mission will be to study the remains of a fan-shaped delta formed by an ancient river as it fed the lake in Jezero Crater. The safest way to get to the delta is by backtracking, since the other route would mean Perseverance would have to cross risky sand dunes and other rough terrain.
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- Scientists want to get to the delta because they normally accumulate sediment over time, potentially trapping organic matter and possible bio-signatures, or signs of life, that may be in the environment.
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- When it makes this destination, which the mission expects to reach in the summer of 2022, will be a highlight of the year.
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February 27, 2022 MARS - after a year with Perseverance Rover? 3483
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--------------------- --- Sunday, February 27, 2022 ---------------------------
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