NASA has share a fascinating animation showing the route taken by the Perseverance rover on Mars sinceits reaching there in February 2021 .
tenaciousness is NASA ’s most advanced Mars rover to day of the month , and while its general routes are decided by a team at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California , the bird of passage actually moves frontward autonomously , checking for hazards and moving around any tough objects as it goes .
The liveliness covers the entire 18.7 miles ( about 30 kilometers ) traveled by Perseverance over the last 44 months , and includes the localisation where it ’s been collecting samples of Mars rock and soil .
Those samples will be come back to Earth in the occur years so that scientist can study them in science laboratory conditions to seek to specify whether microbic aliveness ever existed on the flushed satellite .
Most of Perseverance ’s locomotion have take spot insideJezero Crater , a piazza once occupy with pee and which scientists consider has the best fortune of containing evidence of ancient life .
In recent months , however , Perseverance has embarked on a challenging upgrade up the side of the crater and is now harness its steepest ramp to date .
Because much of the material it ’s presently driving over comprises loosely pack dust and sand with a thin , brittle impudence , Perseverance has lately been slipping a mickle and has covered only about 50 % of the distance that it would have managed on a more stable control surface . On one juncture , it managed only 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 fourth dimension one had to deal both , and on this scale,”said JPL ’s Camden Miller , who is a rover planner , or “ number one wood , ” with the Perseverance military mission . “ For every two steps fore Perseverance takes , we were taking at least one step back . The rover planners saw this was trending toward a long , concentrated slog , so we get together to think up some options . ”
The squad used a replica rover on Earth to screen out some new maneuvers aim at reducing slippage , and also considered alternative routes feature different terrain . Assessing the data point , the deviser settled on alter the itinerary , and Perseverance is continuing on its path at a firm pace .
“ That ’s the program right now , but we may have to change things up the route , ” Miller said . “ No Mars wanderer charge has tried to wax up a mountain this openhanded , this fast . The scientific discipline team wants to get to the top of the volcanic crater rim as soon as possible because of the scientific opportunities up there . It ’s up to us rover planners to figure out a means to get them there . ”
Those opportunities include admission to rock from the most ancient cheekiness of Mars that were formed from a wealth of different cognitive process . rock ‘n’ roll there have never been analyzed close up before , and they could potentially let in once - inhabitable environments .
