Better progress having reached terrain more suitable for driving upslope
this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2024
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NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover
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On the plains of Jezero, the secrets of Mars' past await us! Follow for the latest news, updates, pretty pics, and community discussion on NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's most ambitious mission to Mars!
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Dumb question, but how does it know where it is on the map? It's not like there's GPS on Mars.
It has a sophistication motion detector. It basically maps its xyz position throughout the drive, and at the end of the drive it points it camera at where it calculates the sun should be and using a ND filter it captured an image, if the image is not in the middle of the image the team can adjust its xyz, It's very accurate. In addition they have orbital images of the terrain it is traversing, they can use that orbital imagery to pinpoint its location to less than a meter.