Showing Perseverance

Members of JPL's assembly, test and launch operations team for NASA's Perseverance mission show appreciation for their newly named rover. The image was taken on March 4, 2020, at a payload processing facility at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

The plate is actually a rock and debris shield, designed to protect a cable that carries power and data from computers in the rover's body to actuators in the arm, as well as to the rotary percussive drill and instruments in the turret. Weighing in at about 104 grams (3.7 ounces), the 17-inch-long by 3.25-inch-wide (43-centimeter-long by 8.26-centimeter-wide) plate was cut using a water jet. The surface was coated with black thermal paint before a computer-guided laser generated the name "Perseverance" by ablating paint off the surface. The nameplate was attached to the rover on March 4, 2020.