Perseverance on Friday sent back images of its wheel tracks across the red Mars surface.
This is the first of many pay points and milestones for the rover after the successful landing on 18 February. Once the mission really begins to explore Mars, it will ride at about 656 feet or more.
“As for wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are few first events that match the meaning of the first ride,” Zarifian said. “It was our first chance to ‘kick the tires’ and get endurance. The Rover’s six-wheel drive has responded excellently. We are now confident that our driving system is good to go, and we can take where science takes us. over the next two years. ‘
During the first ride, the rover drove 13 feet forward, made a 150-degree turn to the left, and drove 8 feet backwards. The wanderer was able to turn his cameras to the site where he ended up.
Other images returned from the rover revealed more about the landing site, designated by the agency Octavia E. Butler Landing in honor of the late science fiction author from Pasadena, California. The Rover’s mission is run by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, based in Pasadena.
“Butler’s protagonists are determined and resourceful, making her a perfect fit for the Perseverance Rover mission and the theme of overcoming challenges,” said Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for the Rover. “Butler has inspired and influenced the planetary science community and many others, including those commonly underrepresented in STEM fields.”
Butler was the first African-American woman to win both the Hugo Award and the Nebula Award. She was also the first science fiction writer to be honored with a MacArthur Fellowship.
“I can think of no better person to mark this historic landing site than Octavia E. Butler, who not only grew up alongside JPL in Pasadena, but who also inspired millions with her visions of a scientific future,” he said. Thomas said. Zurbuchen, co-administrator of NASA’s Directorate of Science Mission, in a statement.
“Her guiding principle, ‘When you use science, do it carefully’, is what NASA’s science team is all about. Her work continues to inspire contemporary scientists and engineers around the world – all in the name of a brave, equitable future for everyone. ‘
A Mars investigation
Perseverance goes through all the movements to look at every aspect of the health of the car before embarking on a journey across the Jezero crater in search of ancient life.
“Perseverance did an exceptional job during her first two weeks on the red planet,” said Robert Hogg, the rover’s deputy driver.
The rover received a software update that could help him explore Mars, and he tested some of the instruments on board, such as ground-penetrating radar and his Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment, or MOXIE instrument, which will converts the planet’s carbon dioxide into oxygen.
The rover also installed two wind sensors on the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer, or MEDA instrument, which is Perseverance’s personal weather station. The instrument sends weather data back to earth.
Perseverance also bends its 7-foot-long robotic arm, carrying instruments and cameras that will be used to investigate Mars.
“Tuesday’s first test of the robotic arm was a big moment for us,” Hogg said. “This is the most important tool that the scientific team will use to examine the geological features of the Jezero crater more closely, and then we will drill and test those they find most interesting. When we were confirmed that the robotic arm is flexing its muscles “including pictures of how it works after his long journey to Mars – it made my day.”
More testing is on the schedule for the Rover in the coming weeks to evaluate the rest of its scientific instruments. Perseverance will also begin to explore longer drives.
In the spring, the rover will land the Ingenuity helicopter on the Mars surface so it can prepare for test flights.
Perseverance sends images back every step, with a total of about 7,000 since landing.
Once all these pay points are completed and the helicopter completes its test flights, the scientific mission of Perseverance will really start in earnest.
Images captured by the rover help mission scientists plan the route of Perseverance as she begins to explore. They spotted intriguing rocks with different colors and textures, as well as clear layers, something the scientists of the Rover and its instruments want to take a closer look at. These layers may help reveal the previous climate of Mars.
About one and a half kilometers from the rover is a large hill, a rocky layer of rock that was deposited in rivers in a delta, while flowing into the ancient lake that filled Jezero Crater earlier 3.9 billion years ago, said Morgan.
Using images captured on top of the landing site by NASA’s orbits around Mars, the science team plans several routes that the rover could take to further explore these rocks and the outside world. Then the scientists have to make decisions about where to collect monsters that will eventually return to earth through future missions.
“We ended up in a very interesting area where we were trying to find out the origin of these rocks: is it volcanic or is it sedimentary?” Morgan said. “From a sampling perspective and a scientific perspective, we are interested in the sampling of the rocks in and around the place where the rover is, as well as those we will see along the delta.”