NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover

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1361 - WATSON image of a section of the abrasion patch (patch diameter = 5cm / 2 inches) (lemmy.world)

submitted 3 days ago by paulhammond5155 to c/perseverancerover

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Sol 1361: WATSON Camera (Raw colour) acquired on Dec. 18, 2024 at the local mean solar time of 12:42:15.

Interestingly the patch shows no tool marks from the abrasion bit

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

LINK: https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/SIF_1361_0787763303_855EBY_N0641568SRLC00643_0000LMJ

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (4 children)

Neat! What are we hoping to learn from the abrasion patches?

[–] paulhammond5155 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The rover abrades rocks using a tool on its robotic arm before drilling them in order to clear away dust and weathering rinds, allowing other instruments to study the rocks and determine if scientists want to grab a sample of them. In this case after studying this patch the team decided not to take a sample at this stage, and have just driven away from the location. This could be because they have a limited supply of empty sample tubes, and they want to check the region thoroughly before deciding which targets to obtain a rock core for sample return.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

Thanks! Makes sense that they want to be fairly selective in what samples they store. I hope Mars Sample Return isn't delayed too much further.

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