BLOGMARS PERSEVERANCE ROVER
Blog
March 18, 2024
Perseverance Pays off When Studying the Martian Atmosphere
Perseverance Pays off When Studying the Martian Atmosphere
Studying the atmosphere with Perseverance can be challenging! Imagine spotting an interesting cloud in a photo taken yesterday; unlike something interesting on the surface, more observations just aren’t possible, as it’s long gone by now. Or imagine trying to take a movie of a dust devil zooming across Jezero crater, when the rover’s daily activities are all planned out before the rover even wa...
March 11, 2024
Throwback to the Little 'Mushroom'
Throwback to the Little 'Mushroom'
Back in 2022, Perseverance found my favourite rock on the mission so far: a flat piece with a mushroom-shaped rock feature sticking out of it! The “mushroom” is about 1-2 cm tall and less than 1 cm wide. The rock was in an area the rover explored called Hogwallow Flats. Many aspects of Hogwallow Flats set it apart from the rest of the rocks in Jezero: it was very fine-grained compared to other ...
February 29, 2024
Bunsen Peak Piques Interest
Bunsen Peak Piques Interest
Perseverance has continued its traverse west through the Margin unit. As the rover drives, images and data are obtained using instruments such as Mastcam-Z, Navcam, and SuperCam to track any changes in the chemistry or appearance of the rocks.
Along the way, the science team used these images to pick out an exciting rock named Bunsen Peak. This rock was intriguing because it stands tall amon...
February 22, 2024
Depositional Processes of the Margin Unit
Depositional Processes of the Margin Unit
There has been much discussion and interest regarding the origin of the Margin unit. The Margin unit has gained interest due to the presence of carbonates and its implications for the paleoenvironment and biosignature preservation of ancient Mars. There are several possible origins for the Margin unit, and further analysis of these rocks will shed light on what environment the Margin unit forme...
February 14, 2024
Beehive Geyser Beckons
Beehive Geyser Beckons
Perseverance continues its uphill march through the tricky terrain of the margin unit, an area with enhanced signals of carbonate. We are headed toward a region we’ve nicknamed “Beehive Geyser,” an area about 500 m to the west. What draws us here? Well, this region lies approximately 60 m above the part of the margin unit that we encountered and sampled for the first time last September. By com...
February 08, 2024
Farewell to Our Flying Friend and Closing in on the Crater Rim
Farewell to Our Flying Friend and Closing in on the Crater Rim
After 72 flights and 17 kilometers flown, it is finally time for us to say goodbye to the Ingenuity helicopter. It was announced last week that Ingenuity’s mission is now coming to an end after it sustained damage to a rotor blade on its final flight. Ingenuity’s long and remarkably successful journey began three years ago on the floor of Jezero Crater and it will end in Neretva Vallis, a chann...
February 01, 2024
Bright Rocks on the Horizon: An Exciting Glimpse of Uncharted Territory
Bright Rocks on the Horizon: An Exciting Glimpse of Uncharted Territory
Perseverance is deep within the ongoing Margin Unit campaign, where orbital signatures of carbonate minerals appear strongest. After collection of a drilled rock core from the Margin Unit, followed by 20 Sols (Martian days) parked at our current workspace, Perseverance had ample time to explore the rocks adjacent to the rover and perform long distance multispectral imaging of the Jezero Crater ...
January 25, 2024
New Year, New Images from Mars!
New Year, New Images from Mars!
Since parking at Airey Hill during Solar Conjunction back in November, Perseverance has been busy exploring. We drove north from Airey Hill to Flat Point, where we had the best views to conduct imaging using Mastcam-Z of some of the deepest parts of the Margin Unit. We then drove south-east, parallel to a ridge that shows apparent layering, and imaged targets including Burnt Island and Lily Bay...
December 20, 2023
An Ode to Perseverance and Ingenuity
An Ode to Perseverance and Ingenuity
In the vast expanse where dreams take flight,
A tale unfolds of courage and might.
Mars, the distant red planet's embrace,
Witnesses a duo, bound by space.
In the history of the cosmos, their story engraved,
Perseverance and Ingenuity, bold and brave.
Their legacy echoes, inspiring the souls,
To reach for the stars, to achieve their goals.
Perseverance, a wanderer on alien soil,
Un...
November 28, 2023
Was There Life on Mars?
Was There Life on Mars?
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Universe, and searching for life on Mars is a major goal of the Mars 2020 mission. While humans have long wondered whether there are others like us, it’s only been a few decades since we’ve developed the technologies to search for life beyond Earth in earnest. With space-based telescopes like James Webb, astrono...
About This Blog
These blog updates are provided by self-selected Mars 2020 mission team members who love to share what Perseverance is doing with the public.
Dates of planned rover activities described in these blogs are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
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Contributors+
-
Planetary Scientist, Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum
Washington, DC -
SuperCam/ChemCam Engineer, Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory -
Docking Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Deputy Program Scientist, NASA HQ
Washington, DC -
Student Collaborator, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL -
Mapping Specialist, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
SuperCam, PhD Student, Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN -
Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Project Scientist, Caltech
Pasadena, CA -
Mars 2020 Student Collaborator, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL -
Student Collaborator, Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN -
Student Collaborator, McGill University
Montreal, Canada -
Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) Principal Investigator, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Westford, MA -
Chief Engineer for Sampling & Caching, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Ph.D. Student, University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA -
Student Collaborator on Mastcam-Z, Western Washington University -
Student Collaborator, University of Florida
Gainesville, FL -
Ph.D. Student, Purdue University -
Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Perseverance Deputy Project Manager, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Student Collaborator on PIXL, University of Washington -
Imaging Scientist and Mastcam-Z Deputy Principal Investigator, NASA/JPL -
MOXIE Science Team Member, Lunar Outpost -
Assistant Science Manager, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Ph.D. Student, Rice University
Houston, Texas -
Ph.D. Student, University of the Basque Country -
Vehicle Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Atmospheric Scientist, Aeolis Research
Altadena, CA -
Sampling Operations Deputy Lead, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Vehicle Systems Engineer Lead, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Co-Investigator, PIXL Instrument, Technical University of Denmark (DTU)
Copenhagen, Denmark -
Student Collaborator, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Honolulu, HI -
Robotic Systems Engineer, NASA/JPL -
Deputy Project Scientist, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Science Operations Systems Engineer, Staff Scientist, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Sampling Engineer, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Project Manager, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Chief Engineer for Robotic Operations, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Deputy Project Manager, NASA/JPL
Pasadena, CA -
Principal Investigator, SuperCam / Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument, Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
Tools on the Perseverance Rover+
The Perseverance rover has tools to study the history of its landing site, seek signs of ancient life, collect rock and soil samples, and help prepare for human exploration of Mars. The rover carries:
CAMERAS & SPECTROMETERS
- Mastcam-Z
- PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry)
- SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals)
- SuperCam
GROUND-PENETRATING RADAR
ENVIRONMENTAL SENSORS
TECHNOLOGY DEMO
SAMPLE COLLECTION