NASA’s Robot Completes Mission as Planned, Lasting 687 Earth Days or One Mars Year, and Begins Extended Mission.
Perseverance, NASA’s car-sized rover, landed in Jezero Crater on February 18, 2021, commencing a mission lasting one Mars year, equivalent to 687 Earth days. This mission concluded on January 6. Starting January 7, this six-wheeled robot will continue its extended mission on the Red Planet.
Mars Rover Perseverance with Ingenuity Helicopter. (Photo: NASA).
Perseverance Has Two Main Tasks:
- First, it is searching for signs of life on the surface of Jezero Crater, a 45 km-wide area that once contained a large lake and river delta billions of years ago.
- Second, it is collecting and storing dozens of rock and soil samples to be returned to Earth in the early 2030s.
According to the plan, a NASA lander and an orbiter from the European Space Agency (ESA) will be launched to Mars in the late 2020s. Perseverance will deliver the samples to the lander, whose rocket will then send these precious materials into Martian orbit. There, the ESA spacecraft will retrieve the samples and transport them back to Earth.
To date, 18 of Perseverance’s 38 titanium sample tubes have been filled and sealed. The rover has also deposited 4 tubes at the “Three Forks” depot, a site within Jezero. This storage is a precaution in case Perseverance cannot transport the samples to the lander. In such a case, two small helicopters accompanying the lander will retrieve the sample tubes from the depot. Perseverance also collects samples into a duplicate set, keeping one set in the rover and dropping the second set into storage.
The sample retrieval helicopters will be primarily based on Ingenuity—the 1.8 kg helicopter that flew to Mars with Perseverance. Ingenuity’s main mission is to demonstrate the ability to fly on Mars, despite its atmosphere being only 1% as thick as Earth’s. It quickly achieved this goal and is now serving as a scout for Perseverance during the extended mission.
So far, Ingenuity has completed 37 flights, covering a total of 7.6 km. Meanwhile, Perseverance has traveled nearly 14 km, and this distance is expected to increase significantly during the extended mission. After dropping off samples at the Three Forks depot, the rover will head to the summit of the ancient Jezero river delta. This ascent may be completed by February, after which the rover will explore the area for about 8 months.
