"NASA Mars rover prepares to delve into past of Mars, revealing its hidden mysteries"
Chatting with Cosmic Conquerors:
After an epic trek, Perseverance, the plucky Mars rover, reached the summit of Jezero Crater's rim in late 2024. The journey to ascend the 500-meter (1,640ft) cliffs took an nail-biting three and a half months, sometimes tackling slopes with a whopping 20% gradient. Finding themselves on Lookout Hill, the team behind Perseverance couldn't help but feel a touch of elation.
Exploring the Red Planet
- *The mystical Martian solar eclipse***
- *The ethereal Mars aurora***
- *Why did Mars lose its water???*
Steven Lee, Perseverance's deputy project manager over at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory praised the driving crew, "Our rover pilots have done a terrific job navigating some of the most grueling terrain we've encountered since the landing. They've used some innovative techniques to beat these impediments - even trying reversing the rover to see if it would help - and the rover is still in one piece!"
Now that Lookout Hill is behind them, Perseverance is ready to embark on its fifth science expedition, showily dubbed 'Northern Rim'. The next twelve months will see Perseverance amble along approximately 6.4 km (4 miles), stopping off at four geologically fascinating locations. These rusty rendezvous points provide precious samples to add to the ** swallowed treasure already stored within the crater**. The ultimate goal is to send them back to Earth for further scrutiny.
"The Northern Rim excursion presents us with new, scientifically lucrative mineral deposits as Perseverance ventures into areas with an entirely distinctive geology," says Ken Farley, Perseverance's project scientist at Caltech. "It signifies our progression from rocks that initially filled Jezero Crater to rocks that originate deep within Mars and were thrust skyward, solidifying the crater rim after the colossal impact."
The journey will start at a layered rock pile around 450 meters (1,500ft) away, known as Witch Hazel Hill. "The trip commences with a bang because Witch Hazel Hill boasts over 100 meters (330ft) of layered outcrops, much like flipping through the pages of Martian history," says Candice Bedford, a Perseverance scientist from Purdue University.
Homeward Bound
Words: Chris Lintott
The tenacious Perseverance rover accompanies a well-traveled relic of rock - a minute chip of a Mars-origin meteorite called SaU008. Discovered 25 years ago in the sandy deserts of Oman, this space rock slip is now taking a trip back to its alien home. Analyzing a Martian fragment processed on Earth offers a chance to calibrate the data the mission sends back.
It's like an old shoe being reunited with its owner, a trifle of a planet tossed billions of years ago, now reclaimed and studied, all in the name of understanding the Martian saga. Perseverance's mission is to repay the favor, gathering samples that may eventually be barreled back to Earth. Whether budget permits a return journey remains to be seen, but fingers are firmly crossed.
- The ethereal Mars aurora, a natural phenomenon observed on Mars, could be a subject of intense study during Perseverance's science expedition, adding to our understanding of the Martian environment and its unique characteristics.
- The successful return of the Mars-origin meteorite, SaU008, to Mars with the help of Perseverance, signifies a significant leap in space-and-astronomy, combining technology and science to understand the Martian saga further and ultimately calibrate the data collected from the mission.
