NASA has announced that after three years of effort, its Mars rover Perseverance has finally completed its epic ascent of Jezero Crater. An important step in this fascinating mission which will undoubtedly open the way to new discoveries.
To provide context, Perseverance landed on February 18, 2021 inside this vast crater of approximately 45 kilometers in diameter. If NASA chose this target, it is because Jezero is considered an ancient lake, and is therefore particularly promising in the search for traces of ancient forms of life. For more than three years, the machine has been gradually heading towards the summit of the northern rim of the crater in order to take as many rock samples as diverse as possible.
A perilous solo climb
But the least we can say is that this escalation was not easy. The journey was very trying for both the rover and its operators, because it was necessary to be extra careful to navigate this track dotted with geological traps. In addition to the aggressiveness of these slopes (around 20% difference in altitude towards the top of the crater), it is also an environment studded with gravel and pockets of unstable regolith which made the ascent particularly perilous, even for this machine already experienced in difficult terrain.
This is even more true since the tragic accident of the small Ingenuity helicopterwhich was deployed at the same time as the rover. He was so successful that after just a few months, NASA named him Perseverance’s chief scout. If the rover has been able to avoid all the geological traps set by the Red Planet until now, it is largely thanks to the contribution of its formidable companion who could study the topology of the terrain from the sky to help the operators determine the best route. Unfortunately, this romance ended last January, when this luxury assistant was crippled following a landing accident. Deprived of this precious resource, the rover pilots had to take extra precautions.
« During the climb to the rim of Jezero Crater, our rover drivers did an incredible job negotiating some of the most difficult terrain we have encountered since landing “, congratulates Steven Lee, deputy leader of the team in charge of Perseverance at NASA’s prestigious Jet Propulsion Lab. “ They developed innovative approaches to overcome these challenges, and the rover came out like a champ! “, he added.
A new campaign full of promise
Now perched on the northern edge of the crater, Percy will therefore be able to begin a brand new scientific campaign soberly called “ Northern Rim “. And planetary scientists can’t wait to see what the rover will discover in this radically different area from the crater base.
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« The Northern Rim campaign will bring us completely new scientific resources, as Perseverance ventures into an environment with fundamentally different geology », Indicates Ken Farley, one of the team’s researchers.
« There is a marked transition from rocks that partially filled Jezero Crater when it formed about 3.9 billion years ago, to other material from the depths of Mars that was thrown toward the high to form the crater rim after impact. These rocks represent pieces of the early Martian crust and are among the oldest rocks found in the solar system. Their study could help us understand what Mars and our own planet may have originally looked like », Specifies Farley.
This new adventure will get off to a flying start with the study of a major point of interest called Witch Hazel Hillapproximately 450 meters on the other side of the border. If this place caught the attention of the team, it is because it is a open-air geological archive where different layers of rock that have accumulated over millennia have been exposed by erosion. A real window on the history of Mars, in short.
« As we descend the hill, we will travel back in time, studying the ancient environments of Mars recorded in the crater rim », summarizes Candice Bedford, scientist of the Perseverance team.
Even if it had to leave its former companion behind, Perseverance continues to move forward to push the limits of Martian exploration, and we are already eager to know what this new scientific pilgrimage will reveal about the history of this fascinating planet.
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