NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover
I would like to announce our "sister" Lemmy Community About Curiosity who is roaming Gale Crater since 2012. !curiosityrover@lemmy.world
Improved mapping a bit, although I'm still just captioning the official map.
Despite one of the front wheels and the diagonally opposite rear wheel being perched on rocks they commanded the robotic arm to acquire close up images (WATSON) of the surface of this small boulder. They were probably confident that the rover would not slip. In the past, the use of the arm to obtain close-ups using the turret mounted cameras have meant a delay as the rover was repositioned to firm ground, as s slip could damage the rover. This image is from the front-left HazCam NASA/JPL-Caltech
A failing motor on the dust cover of the SHERLOC instrument forced a decision that seemed likely to doom it to obscurity given the unlimited supply of dust on Mars. Eight months later, we have an answer.
Cropped from a 9-tile post drive R-NavCam. The drive distance may have been over 7 meters, but the point-to-point distance was less than one meter. This long drive may have been a result of the rover having one of its wheels perched on a rock, leaving it unstable for un-stowing the robotic arm. I'm assuming we'll see some closer inspection of this target over the weekend.
4-tile NavCam - NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA/JPL-Caltech/James Sorenson
Data provided by JPL after every drive - NASA/JPL-Caltech
assembled 6 overlapping NavCam tiles to get this simple mosaic of the workspace. Assembled in PhotoScape and MS-ICE. NASA/JPL-Caltech
data provided by JPL (JSON feeds)
Not sure why it was such a short drive, the workspace is just sandy regolith, and there was no wheel slip during the drive. Maybe they are deciding which path to take, the notional path to the SSW or head north to some white rocks seen upslope... Decisions decisions ;) fixed typo in direction of notional path :)
Perseverance rover acquired this image using its Left Mastcam-Z camera. Mastcam-Z is a pair of cameras located high on the rover's mast. This image was acquired on October 15, 2024 (Sol 1299) at the local mean solar time of 11:40:37. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
Sol 1298 tiled NavCam - Still dusty, even though the end of the Mars year is close NASA/JPL-Caltech
I can't find any evidence that the triangular-prismatic rock at the top centre of this image even existed before Sol 1292 (apparently visible on the left hump on the horizon in [this image](https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01292/ids/edr/browse/ncam/NRF_1292_0781639770_675ECM_N0602500NCAM14292_01_195J02.png))... are the Martians watching us??? (To be clear, I am joking here. I just think it's really [neat](https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01286/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZR0_1286_0781105938_831EBY_N0601682ZCAM09346_1100LMJ01.png) to [see](https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01286/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZR0_1286_0781105865_818EBY_N0601682ZCAM09346_1100LMJ01.png) how [many](https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020-raw-images/pub/ods/surface/sol/01286/ids/edr/browse/zcam/ZR0_1286_0781105782_678EBY_N0601682ZCAM09345_1100LMJ01.png) of these cobble and boulder-studded slopes on the Jezero rim produce these angular and seemingly resistant forms. Martian hills and mountains are pretty rounded in general - I'd hardly expect to find the Matterhorn in these ancient landscapes - but erosion has a way of surprising you in this place...
WATSON's lens and open dust cover were imaged by the NavCam's and MastCams on sol 1296. Not sure, but one option could be looking for dust on the lens. This is one of the 4-tile NavCam's that imaged the turret, the WATSON camera is on the lower left of the turret. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
- 4-tile L-NavCam. - The rear of the rover is looking East-northeast. - The climb during this short drive was 4.63 meters (15.19 feet)
The point-to-point distance and elevation change was on par with my estimate, but the overall distance suggest the may have backed up a couple of times to get clear of the soft zone.
Estimated distance 25-30 meters. Estimated climb 4-5 meters. Still waiting for the official drive data and map, but it appears the rover drove Southwest, away from the rubble covered hillock. The wheel tracks are a little bunched up, but I guess that can be expected when climbing upslope across mixed regolith.
The path of the 1294 drive is highlighted in yellow
I've heavily processed this R-R-HazCam to help show the churned up ground in the post drive wheel tracks (I brightened the shadows) See separate post for the drive details, but it looks to me like the drive may have been halted because of the lack of traction. Stopping early means the rover is short of the rubble covered mound that I assume was the end-of-drive target. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Pico Turquino is a region of special interest, because data from the Mars orbiters has indicated that Pico Turquino contains ancient fractures that may have been caused by hydrothermal activity in the distant past.
Perseverance rover has reached new heights ascending the rim of Jezero crater. It reached this location on sol 1293 which is 480.7 meters (1577 ft) above its landing site. The rover is less than 500 meters away from 'Pico Turquino' its second science stop of its crater rim campaign. Pico Turquino is a region of special interest, because data from the Mars orbiters has indicated that Pico Turquino contains ancient fractures that may have been caused by hydrothermal activity in the distant past. This panoramic scene is created by processing images and data from the orbiting assets of NASA and ESA, it was processed by Freie Universität Berlin. Image Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/University of Arizona/ESA/DLR/FU-BERLIN.
- Drive (path) distance 125.63 m (412.18 ft) - Point-to-point distance: 118.91 m (390.11 ft) - Climb: 32.42 m (106.36 ft)
Post drive tiled NavCam. Awaiting the official drive details from JPL, I'll add the data as soon as I get it, but the RMC count hints that it may have been a long drive
Better progress having reached terrain more suitable for driving upslope
Post-drive HazCam - You can see from this rear facing HazCam that they appear to have driven along the north side on the sandy channel where they were having a lot of wheel-slip. You can see a many more smaller rocks in this image, and others that were partially buried in the rover tracks, and many more rocks to the north in the NavCams. I'll add the official drive distance and climb details when they are released, but it appears to be close to a 16 meter climb, and a drive distance of over 60 meters :)
Warning: the video features an undignified view of the rover from about 2:10-2:30. Don't say we didn't warn you.
For scale the tracks are about 3 meters apart 4-tile NavCam taken at site 60.2014 on sol 1288. the drive completed at site 60.2250
The map always feels so empty without labels, so I added some