Perseverance surveys its path because it ascends Jezero Crater

by Clarence Oxford

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 29, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance rover is navigating a difficult climb up Jezero Crater’s western slope, aiming to succeed in the rim by early December. Throughout the ascent, the rover captured a panoramic view of Jezero’s inside together with pictures of its personal tracks, left as its wheels encountered slippage on the slope.

The picture, composed of 44 frames taken on Sept. 27, Perseverance’s 1,282nd Martian day, showcases key websites which have marked its exploration journey, such because the touchdown space, the primary sedimentary rock discover, Mars’ first pattern depot, and the final airfield utilized by NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter. Taken from a midpoint named “Faraway Rock,” the mosaic represents each achievements and challenges alongside the rover’s present route up Jezero’s wall.

“The picture not solely exhibits our previous and current, but in addition exhibits the largest problem to getting the place we wish to be sooner or later,” stated Rick Welch, Perseverance’s deputy venture supervisor at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “For those who take a look at the suitable aspect of the mosaic, you start to get an concept what we’re coping with. Mars did not wish to make it simple for anybody to get to the highest of this ridge.”

Perseverance is tackling a 20-degree slope on the suitable aspect of the mosaic. Though the rover has navigated comparable inclines earlier than – each Curiosity and Alternative have managed steeper grades – this climb stands out because of the mixture of incline and slippery terrain.

Navigating Tender Terrain

All through the ascent, Perseverance has been driving over free mud and sand layered with a brittle crust. On some days, it managed solely half the gap it might on extra steady floor, and as soon as lined merely 20% of the deliberate distance.

“Mars rovers have pushed over steeper terrain, they usually’ve pushed over extra slippery terrain, however that is the primary time one needed to deal with each – and on this scale,” famous Camden Miller, a rover planner with JPL who beforehand labored with Curiosity and now directs Perseverance’s actions. “For each two steps ahead Perseverance takes, we have been taking no less than one step again. The rover planners noticed this was trending towards an extended, arduous slog, so we received collectively to suppose up some choices.”

On Oct. 3, the workforce commanded Perseverance to check traction methods, together with backward driving (leveraging the rover’s “rocker-bogie” suspension for improved grip), cross-slope driving, and sticking near the northern fringe of its route, the “Summerland Path.” Knowledge confirmed that the latter choice, with its bigger floor rocks, was the best method.

“That is the plan proper now, however we could have to alter issues up the highway,” Miller added. “No Mars rover mission has tried to climb up a mountain this huge this quick. The science workforce desires to get to the highest of the crater rim as quickly as potential due to the scientific alternatives up there. It is as much as us rover planners to determine a method to get them there.”

Standing of Pattern Tubes

Within the coming weeks, Perseverance is anticipated to succeed in “Lookout Hill” on the crater rim earlier than persevering with to “Witch Hazel Hill,” roughly 450 meters away. Orbital information suggests this space comprises light-toned, layered rock that might present invaluable geological comparisons with “Vibrant Angel,” a area the place Perseverance lately sampled a rock named “Cheyava Falls.”

The rover’s mission contains 43 pattern tubes, with 24 at the moment crammed with Martian rock, regolith, and one atmospheric pattern, together with three witness tubes. Initially, NASA required Perseverance to gather no less than 31 samples throughout its mission in Jezero, resulting in the addition of 12 additional tubes to accommodate any unexpected challenges.

NASA lately retired two spare tubes that will have posed a threat to the rover’s inside sample-handling arm resulting from a wire harness probably catching on a fastener throughout retrieval. Perseverance now has 11 empty tubes for rock sampling and two empty witness tubes.

Go to right here for the complete measurement pictures

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