NASA has shared a fascinating animation showing the route followed by the Perseverance rover on Mars since its arrival there in February 2021.
Perseverance is NASA's most advanced Mars rover to date, and although its militar routes are determined by a team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the rover actually moves forward autonomously, checking whether There are dangers and avoiding any problematic objects as you go.
The animation covers the 18.7 miles (about 30 kilometers) traveled by Perseverance over the past 44 months and includes the places where it has been collecting rock and soil samples from Mars.
Those samples will be returned to Earth in the coming years so scientists can study them under laboratory conditions to try to determine if microbial life ever existed on the Red Planet.
Most of Perseverance's journeys have taken place inside Jezero Crater, a place that was merienda filled with water and that scientists believe is most likely to contain evidence of ancient life.
However, in recent months, Perseverance has embarked on a challenging climb up the crater's side and is now tackling its steepest slopes yet.
Because much of the material it currently passes over comprises loose dust and sand with a thin, brittle crust, Perseverance has recently slipped a lot and has covered only about 50% of the distance it would have traveled on a more stable surface. On one occasion he only managed 20% of the planned route.
“Mars rovers have traveled on steeper and more slippery terrain, but this is the first time one has to handle both, and at this scale,” said Camden Miller of JPL, who is a rover planner or “driver” on the Perseverance mission. . “For every two steps Perseverance takes forward, we were taking at least one step back. “The rover planners saw that this tended to be a long, hard job, so we met to think about some options.”
The team used a replica of the rover on Earth to test some new maneuvers aimed at reducing sliding and also considered alternative routes with different terrain. Evaluating the data, planners decided to alter the route and Perseverance continues on its path at a constant pace.
“That's the plan right now, but we may have to change things in the future,” Miller said. “No Mars rover mission has attempted to climb a mountain so big and so fast. The science team wants to reach the top of the crater rim as soon as possible because of the scientific opportunities there. “It is up to us, the rover planners, to find a way to get them there.”
Those opportunities include access to rocks from Mars' oldest crust that formed from a host of different processes. The rocks there have never been closely analyzed before, and could potentially include environments that were merienda habitable.
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