NASA’s Perseverance rover completed the marathon distance on Mars and was photographed from orbit to mark the occasion. The US space agency has now made this public and published the recording from the camera HiRISE (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment). The camera is on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), the photo is from June 13th. A day later, Perseverance had completed the 42,195 km, after just five years and four months on wheels. Before Perseverance, only one rover, Opportunity, had covered this distance on another celestial body, but it took eleven years and two months to do so.
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Curiosity left behind
The satellite image now shows Perseverance as a greenish dot in the middle of the red rocky desert of Mars. The rover is located west of Jezero Crater, where it landed more than five years ago and has now overcome the rim. His tracks can also be seen as two distinguishable stripes that meander through the terrain. For the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, an image like this is already routine; the probe has been orbiting Mars for 20 years and has already photographed a number of devices there. For example, the satellite imaged Curiosity for the first time 14 years ago. The rover is still active, but has only completed around 37 km.
Perseverance has been traveling on Mars since February 2021 and has now traveled 43.09 km there. The rover is searching for traces of life in a former delta. He was accompanied for a long time by the small helicopter Ingenuity. It was actually just intended to prove that motorized aircraft can actually take off on Mars. But because he mastered it so well, he was allowed to explore the area afterwards. Only after 72 flights did the tough aircraft suddenly come to an end at the beginning of 2024. Last fall it was announced that Perseverance had found possible traces of microbial life. However, it is not possible to make a final judgment about the history of the substances in question based on the data.
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