NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover

There was a 3 meter drive on 1253, the rear NavCam after that drive showed lots of wheel-slip in the soft regolith. We can interpret the wheel tracks in this 1254 post drive NavCam (6 tiles), it indicates the rover reversed away from the 1253 waypoint and drove onto this rocky region. I estimate the point-to-point distance between the waypoints is less than 20 meters. The rocky terrain should provide much better traction for the climb compared with the soft sandy regolith that appears to have terminated the 1253 drive early. As a bonus the new location also presents a nice robotic arm workspace, if they decide to check out the rocks just in front of the rover before the next drive.

End-of-drive tiled NavCam (4 tiles)

Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Approximate locations of Perseverance rover and its sidekick Ingenuity helicopter during Sol 1250 (August 26, 2024). The view is looking due west, and shows the rover climbing up towards the crater rim after completing science activities in Neretva Vallis. The location of the helicopter is shown in final resting place after flight 72.

Image credits: HRSC: ESA/DLR/FU-BERLIN, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO CTX: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS HiRISE: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

North is up

End-of-drive tiled NavCam

In 2018, NASA selected Jezero crater as the landing site for the Perseverance rover because it was thought to be the best place to search for evidence of life on Mars. So why after 3 ½ years of exploration has NASA decided to exit Jezero crater?

Visit the JPL interactive mission map for the up-to-date version

https://mars.nasa.gov/maps/location/?mission=M20

data from JPL's JSON feeds (updated after every drive)

The rover climbed ~19 meters (~62 ft) Image is a post drive 4- tile NavCam at site 56.5250.

Note the wheel tracks behind the rover

Bright Angel (sample area) can be seen on the far bank of Neretva Vallis.

visit the JPL on-line map - https://mars.nasa.gov/maps/location/?mission=M20

Point-to-point was 61.4 meters, so another difficult traverse. We can expect a lot of difficult terrain during the climb to the rim of the crater over the next months.

36.4 meter traverse, but only 14.58 meters point-to-point distance achieved.

4-tile end-of-drive L-NavCam

data extracted from JPL's JSON feeds

Post drive 4-tile R-NavCam from site 56.4106 on sol 1244 NASA/JPL-Caltech

The climb to the top is ~300 meters

Episode 176 A notably red slab of rock with some even more notable features has been the target of intense investigation for the past two weeks. Now Perseverance has dug into it with its abrading tool and opened up a deeper level of intrigue.

The Ingenuity Mars Helicopter made history on August 19, 2021, when it completed the first powered, controlled flight on another planet, a feat that's been called a "Wright Brothers moment."

Originally designed as a technology demonstration to perform no more than five test flights over 30 days, Ingenuity quickly proved it was capable of even more than NASA imagined. Its flights became longer, higher, faster, and more adventurous. Ingenuity later took on another assignment as an operations demonstration to serve as an aerial scout to preview possible areas for the Perseverance rover to explore.

Over the course of its mission life, the helicopter completed 128.8 flying minutes, covering 10.5 miles (17.0 kilometers), and reaching altitudes as high as 78.7 feet (24.0 meters).

Ingenuity flew for the last time on January 18, 2024, and completed its mission on January 25, 2024, after nearly three years of aerial exploration and 72 historic flights.

Ingenuity’s triumph has paved the way for next-generation aerial vehicles to explore Mars and potentially, other space destinations.