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ExoMars orbiter images Perseverance at landing site
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By NASA
6 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This enhanced-color mosaic was taken on Sept. 27 by the Perseverance rover while climbing the western wall of Jezero Crater. Many of the landmarks visited by the rover during its 3½-year exploration of Mars can be seen.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS On its way up the side of Jezero Crater, the agency’s latest Red Planet off-roader peers all the way back to its landing site and scopes the path ahead.
NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is negotiating a steeply sloping route up Jezero Crater’s western wall with the aim of cresting the rim in early December. During the climb, the rover snapped not only a sweeping view of Jezero Crater’s interior, but also imagery of the tracks it left after some wheel slippage along the way.
An annotated version of the mosaic captured by Perseverance highlights nearly 50 labeled points of interest across Jezero Crater, including the rover’s landing site. The 44 images that make up the mosaic were taken Sept. 27.NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS Stitched together from 44 frames acquired on Sept. 27, the 1,282nd Martian day of Perseverance’s mission, the image mosaic features many landmarks and Martian firsts that have made the rover’s 3½-year exploration of Jezero so memorable, including the rover’s landing site, the spot where it first found sedimentary rocks, the location of the first sample depot on another planet, and the final airfield for NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. The rover captured the view near a location the team calls “Faraway Rock,” at about the halfway point in its climb up the crater wall.
“The image not only shows our past and present, but also shows the biggest challenge to getting where we want to be in the future,” said Perseverance’s deputy project manager, Rick Welch of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “If you look at the right side of the mosaic, you begin to get an idea what we’re dealing with. Mars didn’t want to make it easy for anyone to get to the top of this ridge.”
Visible on the right side of the mosaic is a slope of about 20 degrees. While Perseverance has climbed 20-degree inclines before (both NASA’s Curiosity and Opportunity rovers had crested hills at least 10 degrees steeper), this is the first time it’s traveled that steep a grade on such a slippery surface.
This animated orbital-map view shows the route NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover has taken since its February 2021 landing at Jezero Crater to July 2024, when it took its “Cheyava Falls” sample. As of October 2024, the rover has driven over 30 kilometers (18.65 miles), and has collected 24 samples of rock and regolith as well as one air sample. NASA/JPL-Caltech Soft, Fluffy
During much of the climb, the rover has been driving over loosely packed dust and sand with a thin, brittle crust. On several days, Perseverance covered only about 50% of the distance it would have on a less slippery surface, and on one occasion, it covered just 20% of the planned route.
“Mars rovers have driven over steeper terrain, and they’ve driven over more slippery terrain, but this is the first time one had to handle both — and on this scale,” said JPL’s Camden Miller, who was a rover planner, or “driver,” for Curiosity and now serves the same role on the Perseverance mission. “For every two steps forward Perseverance takes, we were taking at least one step back. The rover planners saw this was trending toward a long, hard slog, so we got together to think up some options.”
On Oct. 3, they sent commands for Perseverance to test strategies to reduce slippage. First, they had it drive backward up the slope (testing on Earth has shown that under certain conditions the rover’s “rocker-bogie” suspension system maintains better traction during backward driving). Then they tried cross-slope driving (switchbacking) and driving closer to the northern edge of “Summerland Trail,” the name the mission has given to the rover’s route up the crater rim.
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NASA’s Perseverance drives first backward then forward as it negotiates some slippery terrain found along a route up to the rim of Jezero Crater on Oct. 15. The Mars rover used one of its navigation cameras to capture the 31 images that make up this short video.NASA/JPL-Caltech Data from those efforts showed that while all three approaches enhanced traction, sticking close to the slope’s northern edge proved the most beneficial. The rover planners believe the presence of larger rocks closer to the surface made the difference.
“That’s the plan right now, but we may have to change things up the road,” said Miller. “No Mars rover mission has tried to climb up a mountain this big this fast. The science team wants to get to the top of the crater rim as soon as possible because of the scientific opportunities up there. It’s up to us rover planners to figure out a way to get them there.”
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In a few weeks, Perseverance is expected to crest the crater rim at a location the science team calls “Lookout Hill.” From there, it will drive about another quarter-mile (450 meters) to “Witch Hazel Hill.” Orbital data shows that Witch Hazel Hill contains light-toned, layered bedrock. The team is looking forward to comparing this new site to “Bright Angel,” the area where Perseverance recently discovered and sampled the “Cheyava Falls” rock.
Tracks shown in this image indicate the slipperiness of the terrain Perseverance has encountered during its climb up the rim of Jezero Crater. The image was taken by one of rover’s navigation cameras on Oct. 11. NASA/JPL-Caltech The rover landed on Mars carrying 43 tubes for collecting samples from the Martian surface. So far, Perseverance has sealed and cached 24 samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and dust), plus one atmospheric sample and three witness tubes. Early in the mission’s development, NASA set the requirement for the rover to be capable of caching at least 31 samples of rock, regolith, and witness tubes over the course of Perseverance’s mission at Jezero. The project added 12 tubes, bringing the total to 43. The extras were included in anticipation of the challenging conditions found at Mars that could result in some tubes not functioning as designed.
NASA decidedto retire two of the spare empty tubes because accessing them would pose a risk to the rover’s small internal robotic sample-handling arm needed for the task: A wire harness connected to the arm could catch on a fastener on the rover’s frame when reaching for the two empty sample tubes.
With those spares now retired, Perseverance currently has 11 empty tubes for sampling rock and two empty witness tubes.
More About Perseverance
A key objective of Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, to help pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet and as the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.
NASA’s Mars Sample Return Program, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), is designed to send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed 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 for human exploration of the Red Planet.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mars-2020-perseverance
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Karen Fox / Molly Wasser
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agle@jpl.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 28, 2024 Related Terms
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This image shows nine candidate landing regions for NASA’s Artemis III mission, with each region containing multiple potential sites for the first crewed landing on the Moon in more than 50 years. The background image of the lunar South Pole terrain within the nine regions is a mosaic of LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) WAC (Wide Angle Camera) images.Credit: NASA As NASA prepares for the first crewed Moon landing in more than five decades, the agency has identified an updated set of nine potential landing regions near the lunar South Pole for its Artemis III mission. These areas will be further investigated through scientific and engineering study. NASA will continue to survey potential areas for missions following Artemis III, including areas beyond these nine regions.
“Artemis will return humanity to the Moon and visit unexplored areas. NASA’s selection of these regions shows our commitment to landing crew safely near the lunar South Pole, where they will help uncover new scientific discoveries and learn to live on the lunar surface,” said Lakiesha Hawkins, assistant deputy associate administrator, Moon to Mars Program Office.
NASA’s Cross Agency Site Selection Analysis team, working closely with science and industry partners, added, and excluded potential landing regions, which were assessed for their science value and mission availability.
The refined candidate Artemis III lunar landing regions are, in no priority order:
Peak near Cabeus B Haworth Malapert Massif Mons Mouton Plateau Mons Mouton Nobile Rim 1 Nobile Rim 2 de Gerlache Rim 2 Slater Plain These regions contain diverse geological characteristics and offer flexibility for mission availability. The lunar South Pole has never been explored by a crewed mission and contains permanently shadowed areas that can preserve resources, including water.
“The Moon’s South Pole is a completely different environment than where we landed during the Apollo missions,” said Sarah Noble, Artemis lunar science lead at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “It offers access to some of the Moon’s oldest terrain, as well as cold, shadowed regions that may contain water and other compounds. Any of these landing regions will enable us to do amazing science and make new discoveries.”
To select these landing regions, a multidisciplinary team of scientists and engineers analyzed the lunar South Pole region using data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and a vast body of lunar science research. Factors in the selection process included science potential, launch window availability, terrain suitability, communication capabilities with Earth, and lighting conditions. Additionally, the team assessed the combined trajectory capabilities of NASA’s SLS (Space Launch System) rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and Starship HLS (Human Landing System) to ensure safe and accessible landing sites.
The Artemis III geology team evaluated the landing regions for their scientific promise. Sites within each of the nine identified regions have the potential to provide key new insights into our understanding of rocky planets, lunar resources, and the history of our solar system.
“Artemis III will be the first time that astronauts will land in the south polar region of the Moon. They will be flying on a new lander into a terrain that is unique from our past Apollo experience,” said Jacob Bleacher, NASA’s chief exploration scientist. “Finding the right locations for this historic moment begins with identifying safe places for this first landing, and then trying to match that with opportunities for science from this new place on the Moon.”
NASA’s site assessment team will engage the lunar science community through conferences and workshops to gather data, build geologic maps, and assess the regional geology of eventual landing sites. The team also will continue surveying the entire lunar South Pole region for science value and mission availability for future Artemis missions. This will include planning for expanded science opportunities during Artemis IV, and suitability for the LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle) as part of Artemis V.
The agency will select sites within regions for Artemis III after it identifies the mission’s target launch dates, which dictate transfer trajectories, or orbital paths, and surface environment conditions.
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency will establish the foundation for long-term scientific exploration at the Moon, land the first woman, first person of color, and its first international partner astronaut on the lunar surface, and prepare for human expeditions to Mars for the benefit of all.
For more information on Artemis, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis
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James Gannon / Molly Wasser
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Last Updated Oct 28, 2024 EditorJessica TaveauLocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Artemis Artemis 3 Earth's Moon Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate Human Landing System Program Humans in Space Space Launch System (SLS) View the full article
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Sols 4331-4333: Today’s Rover ABC – Aurora, Backwards Driving, and Chemistry, with a Side of Images
This image shows just how variable and interesting the terrain is in the area that NASA’s Mars rover Curiosity is currently investigating. Curiosity captured this long-distance Remote Micro Imager (RMI) image using the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) aboard the rover on sol 4329 — Martian day 4,329 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission — on Oct. 10, 2024 at 02:30:12 UTC. NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL Earth planning date: Friday, Oct. 11, 2024
This blogger is in the United Kingdom, just north of London, where we yesterday had beautiful night skies with a red aurora that was even visible with the unaided eye, and looked stunning on photographs. That reminded me of the solar storm that made it all the way to Mars earlier this year. Here is my colleague Deborah’s blog about it: “Aurora Watch on Mars.” And, of course, that was a great opportunity to do atmospheric science and prepare for future crewed missions, to assess radiation that future astronauts might encounter. You can read about it in the article, “NASA Watches Mars Light Up During Epic Solar Storm.” But now, back from shiny red night skies north of London, and auroras on Mars six months ago, to today’s planning!
Power — always a negotiation! Today, I was the Science Operations Working Group chair, the one who has to watch for the more technical side of things, such as the question if all the activities will fit into the plan. Today there were many imaging ideas to capture the stunning landscape in detail with Mastcam and very close close-ups with the long-distance imaging capability of ChemCam (RMI). Overall, we have two long-distance RMIs in the plan to capture the details of the ridge we are investigating. You can see in the accompanying image an example from last sol of just how many stunning details we can see. I so want to go and pick up that smooth white-ish looking rock to find out if it is just the light that makes it so bright, or if the surface is different from the underside… but that’s just me, a mineralogist by training, used to wandering around a field site! Do you notice the different patterns — textures as we call them in geology — on the rocks to the left of that white-ish rock and the right of it? So much stunning detail, and we are getting two more RMI observations of 10 frames each in today’s plan! In addition there are more than 80 Mastcam frames planned. Lots of images to learn from!
Chemistry is also featuring in the plan. The rover is stable on its wheels, which means we can get the arm out and do an APXS measurement on the target “Midnight Lake,” which MAHLI also images. The LIBS investigations are seconding the APXS investigation on Midnight Lake, and add another target to the plan, “Pyramidal Pinnacle.” On the third sol there is an AEGIS, the LIBS measurement where the rover picks its own target before we here on Earth even see where it is! Power was especially tight today, because the CheMin team does some housekeeping, in particular looking at empty cells in preparation for the next drill. The atmosphere team adds many investigations to look out for dust devils and the dustiness of the atmosphere, and APXS measures the argon content of the atmosphere. This is a measure for the seasonal changes of the atmosphere, as argon is an inert gas that does not react with other components of the atmosphere. It is only controlled by the temperature in various places of the planet — mainly the poles. DAN continues to monitor water in the subsurface, and RAD — prominently featured during the solar storm I was talking about earlier — continues to collect data on the radiation environment.
Let’s close with a fun fact from planning today: During one of the meetings, the rover drivers were asked, “Are you driving backwards again?” … and the answer was yes! The reason: We need to make sure that in this rugged terrain, with its many interesting walls (interesting for the geologists!), the antenna can still see Earth when we want to send the plan. So the drive on sol 4332 is all backwards. I am glad we have hazard cameras on the front and the back of the vehicle!
Written by Susanne Schwenzer, Planetary Geologist at The Open University
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Last Updated Oct 13, 2024 Related Terms
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