Mars Report: NASA’s Explorers on Mars

NASA’s rovers are putting their gears in drive on Mars, making discoveries along the way. NASA's Curiosity rover captured some interesting images on Mount Sharp while heading toward an area called Greenheugh Pediment. Over in Jezero Crater, NASA's Perseverance rover and Ingenuity Mars Helicopter are both gearing up for a new destination. Perseverance is wrapping up its first science campaign on the floor of Jezero Crater and, with the help of sophisticated self-driving abilities, will head toward the remnants of a fan-shaped deposit of river sediments known as a delta to collect more samples. Ingenuity is planning updates to its software to improve operational safety.

You can make your own discoveries by visiting the raw image pages for the Curiosity rover and Perseverance rover, which feature unprocessed images coming straight down from the rovers.

For more information on NASA's Mars missions, visit mars.nasa.gov.

TRANSCRIPT

NASA’s explorers on Mars are on the move and making new discoveries. It’s a journey you can be a part of too!

NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has been climbing Mount Sharp since 2014, is about to drive up onto a broad, sloping surface called the Greenheugh Pediment. This will allow scientists to fast-forward, perhaps millions of years, in Mars’ history and study the history of liquid water written into these different layers of rock. And Curiosity made some interesting discoveries along the way. This unusual feature eroded from sedimentary rock was cemented by mineral-rich groundwater. It’s less than half an inch in size. And check out this rock, smoothly eroded by winds.

Over in Jezero Crater, the Perseverance rover getting ready for a new destination and science campaign. And it's regularly setting driving records on Mars by relying more on self-driving software that allows the rover to avoid obstacles without having to consult a human on Earth.

Perseverance will be pushing north into an area where an ancient river flowed into a body of water. It left sediments in a shape called a delta. The rover will collect more rock samples there.

The Ingenuity Mars helicopter will support Perseverance’s upcoming science campaign The helicopter has been given the green light to try to keep flying on mars for the next few months. Upgrades to its navigation software will improve flight and operational safety.

The Mars explorers will document the journey along the way. And you can make your own discoveries!

Visit the ‘Raw Image’ pages to see the latest images every day. And vote for your favorites.

To get the latest updates, follow at @NASAJPL and @NASAMARS on social media or take a deeper dive on the mission websites at mars.nasa.gov.