The latest data from the six-wheeled robot since it hit yesterday includes a series of images captured while the rover’s “jet pack” dropped it to the ground.
Less than a day after NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover successfully landed on the surface of Mars, engineers and scientists at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California were working hard waiting for the upcoming broadcasts of Perseverance. As data entered, transmitted by several spacecraft orbiting the red planet, the Perseverance team was relieved to see the rover’s health reports, which showed that everything seemed to be working as expected.
Added to the excitement was a high-resolution image taken during the rover’s landing. While NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover was sending it a stop-motion film of his offspring, Perseverance cameras are meant to capture video of your contact and this new still image was taken from this material, which is still transmitted to Earth and processed.
Unlike past rovers, most Perseverance cameras capture color images. After landing, two of the hazard cameras (Hazcams) captured views from the front and rear of the rover, showing one of its wheels on Martian earth. Perseverance also got a close-up from NASA’s eye in the sky: NASA’s Mars recognition. Orbiter, which used a special high-resolution camera to capture the spacecraft sailing into Jezero Crater, with its parachute behind. The High Resolution Camera Experiment (HiRISE) did the same with Curiosity in 2012. JPL leads the orbiter mission, while the HiRISE instrument is led by the University of Arizona.
Several pyrotechnic charges are expected to explode later Friday, dropping the Perseverance stick (the rover’s “head”) from where it is attached to the rover’s deck. Navigation cameras (Navcams), which are used to drive, share space on the mast with two scientific cameras: the zoomed Mastcam-Z and a laser instrument called SuperCam. The mast is scheduled to be lifted on Saturday, February 20, after which the Navcams are expected to make panoramic views of the rover’s deck and its surroundings.
In the coming days, engineers will analyze the rover’s system data, update its software, and begin testing its various instruments. In the following weeks, Perseverance will test his robotic arm and take his first short trip. It will be at least a month or two before Perseverance finds a flat spot to leave Ingenuity, the mini helicopter attached to the rover’s belly, and even longer before it finally hits the road, beginning its scientific mission and looking for the first sample of Martian rock and sediment.
Learn more about the mission
A major goal for Perseverance’s mission to Mars is astrobiology research, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the geology and past climate of the planet and will be the first mission to collect and hide rock and Martian regolith, paving the way for human exploration of the red planet.
Subsequent NASA missions, in collaboration with ESA (European Space Agency), will send spacecraft to Mars to collect these stored samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth 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 you for human exploration of the red planet.
JPL, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the Mars 2020 Perseverance mission and the Mars Helicopter wit technology demonstration for NASA.
For more information on perseverance:
mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/
nasa.gov/perseverance
News media contacts
Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
818-393-2433
[email protected]
Alana Johnson / Gray Tombstone
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-672-4780 / 202-358-0668
[email protected] / [email protected]