Perseverance Rover Archives

Perseverance Mars Rover Looks Back While Climbing A Slippery Slope -- NASA

Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

Perseverance Looks Back While Climbing A Steep Slope On Mars

by Keith CowingOctober 28, 2024

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover is negotiating a steeply sloping route up Jezero Crater’s western wall with the aim of cresting the rim in early December. During the climb, the rover […]

NASA's Mars Perseverance rover acquired this image, a nighttime mosaic of the Malgosa Crest abrasion patch at “Serpentine Rapids,” using its SHERLOC WATSON camera, located on the turret at the end of the rover's robotic arm. The diameter of the abrasion patch is 5 centimeters (about 2 inches) and the large green spot in the upper center left of the image is approximately 2 millimeters (about 0.08 inch) in diameter. Mosaic source images have been debayered, flat-fielded, and linearly color stretched. This image was acquired on Aug. 19, 2024 (sol 1243, or Martian day 1,243 of the Mars 2020 mission) at the local mean solar time of 19:45:30. NASA/JPL-Caltech Larger image

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return, Status Report

Mars Perseverance Rover Observes Red Rocks With Green Spots at Serpentine Rapids – Possible Biosignatures?

by Keith CowingOctober 27, 2024October 27, 2024

Editor’s note: I will make this simple: did NASA find evidence of life on Mars? No. Did NASA find an interesting rock feature that might signal or indicate that there […]

Mars sample containers being placed inside a return vehicle on Mars -- NASA

Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Planetary Protection & Biosafety, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Sample Return

New Team to Assess NASA’s Mars Sample Return Architecture Proposals

by Keith CowingOctober 17, 2024October 17, 2024

NASA announced Wednesday a new strategy review team will assess potential architecture adjustments for the agency’s Mars Sample Return Program, which aims to bring back scientifically selected samples from Mars, […]

A close-up view of an engineering model of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), one the instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover. NASA/JPL-Caltech

Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Status Report

Investigating The Stability of Aromatic Carboxylic Acids in Hydrated Magnesium Sulfate under UV Irradiation to Assist Detection of Organics on Mars

by Keith CowingOctober 4, 2024

The Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals (SHERLOC) instrument onboard the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover detected so far some of the most intense fluorescence signals […]

This is an image of the rim that the Perseverance rover took on sol 383 (March 19th, 2022) when it was traversing the crater floor. Dox Castle is located at the top of the image in the far ground. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Away Teams & Field Reports, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs

Mars Perseverance Astrobiology Rover Heads Toward Dox Castle

by Keith CowingSeptember 25, 2024September 25, 2024

The Perseverance rover is reaching new heights as it ascends the rim of Jezero crater (over 300 meters in elevation higher than the original landing site)! The rover is now […]

This view of the western edge of Mars' Jezero Crater shows the steep crater rim, which stands roughly 1,000 feet (300 meters) tall. -- NASA larger image

Away Teams & Field Reports, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Reports, Roadmaps, & Plans, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report

Astrobiology Droid Perseverance Is At The Base of Jezero Crater’s Rim

by Keith CowingSeptember 13, 2024September 13, 2024

The view looks northwest from the southern edge of the crater. A blue icon shows Perseverance’s general location as of Aug. 14, 2024, the 1,238th Martian day, or sol, of […]

NASA’s Perseverance rover puts its robotic arm to work around a rocky outcrop called “Skinner Ridge” in Mars’ Jezero Crater. Composed of multiple images, this mosaic shows layered sedimentary rocks in the face of a cliff in the delta, as well as one of the locations where the rover abraded a circular patch to analyze a rock’s composition. Credits: Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Exploration Gear & Tech, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release

Rocks from Mars’ Jezero Crater, Which Likely Predate Life On Earth, Contain Signs Of Water

by Keith CowingAugust 15, 2024August 15, 2024

In a new study appearing today in the journal AGU Advances, scientists at MIT and NASA report that seven rock samples collected along the “fan front” of Mars’ Jezero Crater […]

The Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover captured this view of the rover's deck on Feb. 20, 2021. This view provides a good look at PIXL, one of the instruments on the rover's stowed arm. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech larger image

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors

Away Team Droid Tech: The PIXL Instrument on the Mars 2020 Perseverance Rover

by Keith CowingJuly 12, 2024July 7, 2024

The Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA’s Perseverance rover.

This image of NASA’s Perseverance rover gathering data on the “Walhalla Glades” abrasion was taken in the “Bright Angel” region of Jezero Crater by one of the rover’s front hazard avoidance cameras on June 14. The WATSON camera on the SHERLOC instrument is closest to the Martian surface. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Away Teams & Field Reports, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Microbiology & Virology, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, Tricorders & Sensors

Perseverance Mars Rover Team Revives The SHERLOC Astrobiology Instrument

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2024June 27, 2024

After six months of effort, an instrument that helps the Mars rover look for potential signs of ancient microbial life has come back online.

Mars Sample Tube Awaiting A Ride To Earth -- NASA

Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Mars, Press Release, Robotics/Rovers/UAVs, ROVs/Submersibles/Diving, Sample Return

There Will Be Martian Air Inside Those Sample Return Tubes

by Keith CowingJune 20, 2024June 20, 2024

Atmospheric scientists get a little more excited with every rock core NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover seals in its titanium sample tubes, which are being gathered for eventual delivery to Earth […]