WASHINGTON, March 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- NASA's Mars 2020
Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters)
across the Martian landscape. The drive served as a mobility test
that marks just one of many milestones as team members check out
and calibrate every system, subsystem, and instrument on
Perseverance. Once the rover begins pursuing its science goals,
regular commutes extending 656 feet (200 meters) or more are
expected.
"When it comes to wheeled vehicles on other planets, there are
few first-time events that measure up in significance to that of
the first drive," said Anais
Zarifian, Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mobility test bed
engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "This was our first
chance to 'kick the tires' and take Perseverance out for a spin.
The rover's six-wheel drive responded superbly. We are now
confident our drive system is good to go, capable of taking us
wherever the science leads us over the next two years."
The drive, which lasted about 33 minutes, propelled the rover
forward 13 feet (4 meters), where it then turned in place 150
degrees to the left and backed up 8 feet (2.5 meters) into its new
temporary parking space. To help better understand the dynamics of
a retrorocket landing on the Red Planet, engineers used
Perseverance's Navigation and Hazard Avoidance Cameras to image the
spot where Perseverance touched down, dispersing Martian dust with
plumes from its engines.
More Than Roving
The rover's mobility system is not only thing getting a test
drive during this period of initial checkouts. On Feb. 26 – Perseverance's eighth Martian day, or
sol, since landing – mission controllers completed a software
update, replacing the computer program that helped land
Perseverance with one they will rely on to investigate the
planet.
More recently, the controllers checked out Perseverance's Radar
Imager for Mars' Subsurface Experiment (RIMFAX) and Mars
Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instruments,
and deployed the Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer (MEDA)
instrument's two wind sensors, which extend out from the rover's
mast. Another significant milestone occurred on March 2, or sol 12,
when engineers unstowed the rover's 7-foot-long (2-meter-long)
robotic arm for the first time, flexing each of its five
joints over the course of two hours.
"Tuesday's first test of the robotic arm was a big moment for
us," said Robert Hogg, Mars 2020
Perseverance rover deputy mission manager. "That's the main tool
the science team will use to do close-up examination of the
geologic features of Jezero Crater, and then we'll drill and sample
the ones they find the most interesting. When we got confirmation
of the robotic arm flexing its muscles, including images of it
working beautifully after its long trip to Mars – well, it made my
day."
Upcoming events and evaluations include more detailed testing
and calibration of science instruments, sending the rover on longer
drives, and jettisoning covers that shield both the adaptive
caching assembly (part of the rover's Sample Caching System) and
the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during landing. The experimental
flight test program for the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will also
take place during the rover's commissioning.
Through it all, the rover is sending down images from the most
advanced suite of cameras ever to travel to Mars. The mission's
cameras have already sent about 7,000 images. On Earth,
Perseverance's imagery flows through the powerful Deep Space
Network (DSN), managed by NASA's Space Communications and
Navigation (SCaN) program. In space, several Mars orbiters play an
equally important role.
"Orbiter support for downlink of data has been a real
gamechanger," said Justin Maki,
chief engineer for imaging and the imaging scientist for the Mars
2020 Perseverance rover mission at JPL. "When you see a
beautiful image from Jezero, consider that it took a whole team of
Martians to get it to you. Every picture from Perseverance is
relayed by either the European Space Agency's Trace Gas Orbiter, or
NASA's MAVEN, Mars Odyssey, or Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They
are important partners in our explorations and our
discoveries."
The sheer volume of imagery and data already coming down on this
mission has been a welcome bounty for Matt
Wallace, who recalls waiting anxiously for the first images
to trickle in during NASA's first Mars rover mission, Sojourner,
which explored Mars in 1997. On March
3, Wallace became the mission's new project manager. He
replaced John McNamee, who is
stepping down as he intended, after helming the project for nearly
a decade.
"John has provided unwavering support to me and every member of
the project for over a decade," said Wallace. "He has left his mark
on this mission and team, and it has been my privilege to not only
call him boss but also my friend."
Touchdown Site Named
With Perseverance departing from its touchdown site, mission
team scientists have memorialized the spot, informally naming it
for the late science fiction author Octavia
E. Butler. The groundbreaking author and Pasadena, California, native was the first
African American woman to win both the Hugo Award and Nebula Award,
and she was the first science fiction writer honored with a
MacArthur Fellowship. The location where Perseverance began its
mission on Mars now bears the name "Octavia
E. Butler Landing."
Official scientific names for places and objects throughout the
solar system – including asteroids, comets, and locations
on planets – are designated by the International Astronomical
Union. Scientists working with NASA's Mars rovers have
traditionally given unofficial nicknames to various geological
features, which they can use as references in scientific
papers.
"Butler's protagonists embody determination and inventiveness,
making her a perfect fit for the Perseverance rover mission and its
theme of overcoming challenges," said Kathryn Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist
for Perseverance. "Butler inspired and influenced the planetary
science community and many beyond, including those typically
under-represented in STEM fields."
"I can think of no better person to mark this historic landing
site than Octavia E. Butler, who not
only grew up next door to JPL in Pasadena, but she also inspired millions with
her visions of a science-based future," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator
for science. "Her guiding principle, 'When using science, do so
accurately,' is what the science team at NASA is all about. Her
work continues to inspire today's scientists and engineers across
the globe – all in the name of a bolder, more equitable future for
all."
Butler, who died in 2006, authored such notable works as
"Kindred," "Bloodchild," "Speech Sounds," "Parable of the Sower,"
"Parable of the Talents," and the "Patternist" series. Her writing
explores themes of race, gender, equality, and humanity, and her
works are as relevant today as they were when originally written
and published.
More About the Mission
A key objective of Perseverance's mission on Mars is
astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial
life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past
climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and
be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and
regolith.
Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European
Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these
sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for
in-depth analysis.
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to
Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to
the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red
Planet.
JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, built and manages operations of the
Perseverance rover.
For more about Perseverance:
https://www.nasa.gov/perseverance
and
https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020
For more information about NASA's Mars missions, go to:
https://www.nasa.gov/mars
To see images as they come down from the rover and vote on the
favorite of the week, go to:
https://go.nasa.gov/perseverance-raw-images
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SOURCE NASA