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The latest data from the six-wheeled robot since it landed yesterday includes a series of images captured when the rover’s “jet pack” lowered it to the ground.
Within a day of the successful landing of NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover on the surface of Mars, engineers and scientists at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California were working hard, waiting for the next transmissions from Perseverance. As the data arrived, relayed by several spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet, the Perseverance team was relieved to see the rover’s health reports, which showed everything appeared to be working as expected.
A high resolution image taken as the rover landed added to the excitement. As NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover is fired a stop motion film of his descent, Perseverance’s cameras are intended to capture video of its touchdown and this new still image was taken from that footage, which is still relayed to Earth and processed.
Unlike older rovers, the majority of Perseverance cameras capture color images. After landing, two of the hazard cameras (Hazcams) captured views of the front and rear of the rover, showing one of its wheels in Martian earth. Perseverance has also been seen up close with NASA’s eye in the sky: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance. Orbiter, who used a special high-resolution camera to capture the spacecraft sailing through Jezero Crater, with its parachute trailing. The HiRISE (High Resolution Camera Experiment) camera did the same for Curiosity in 2012. JPL is leading the orbiter mission, while the HiRISE instrument is led by the University of Arizona.
Several pyrotechnic charges are expected to fire later on Friday, freeing the Perseverance mast (the rover’s “head”) from where it is attached to the rover’s deck. Navigation cameras (Navcams), which are used for driving, share mast space with two science cameras: the zoomable Mastcam-Z and a laser instrument called SuperCam. The mast is expected to be raised on Saturday, February 20, after which Navcams are expected to take panoramas of the rover’s deck and its surroundings.
In the coming days, engineers will review the rover’s system data, update its software, and begin testing its various instruments. In the following weeks, Perseverance will test its robotic arm and take its first short drive. It will be at least a month or two before Perseverance finds a flat spot to drop Ingenuity, the mini-helicopter strapped to the rover’s belly, and more before it finally hits the road, beginning its science mission and searching for its first. sample of rock and Martian sediment.
Learn more about the mission
One of the main objectives of the Perseverance mission to Mars is astrobiology research, including looking for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate and be the first mission to collect and hide Martian rock and regolith, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet.
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these cached samples on the surface and return them to Earth for further analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon-to-Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the red planet.
JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, Calif., Manages the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission and the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter technology demonstration for NASA.
To learn more about perseverance:
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
nasa.gov/perseverance
Media contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
818-393-2433
[email protected]
Alana Johnson / Gray Gravestone
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668
[email protected] / [email protected]
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