Mars Perseverance Sol 449 – Entrance Left Hazard Avoidance Digicam: The same rock mute within the rover’s front left wheel on sol 449, image obtained on Could well simply 26, 2022 (Sol 449). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
How attain you prefer a rock on Mars? Regularly you don’t— it chooses you.
As we reported months within the past, Perseverance obtained an unwanted hitchhiker — a rock — caught in undoubtedly one of its wheels in February. What is vibrant is that the rock is mute there, riding on the left front wheel for over 5 miles. Fortunately, it isn’t doing any damage.
NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover has six wheels, every powered by its contain person motor. For the comely mixture of strength, weight, and resilience, the wheels are constructed of aluminum, with some titanium blueprint. This makes them stable sufficient to withstand the bumping and scraping from the rock.
For the past 4 months, Perseverance has had an surprising traveling partner. Again on sol 341— that’s over 100 sols within the past, in early February— a rock came upon its manner into the rover’s front left wheel, and since hitching a hump, it’s been transported bigger than 5.3 miles (8.5 km). This rock isn’t doing any damage to the wheel, nonetheless all over its (absolute self perception bumpy!) bolt, it has clung on and made periodic appearances in our left Hazcam photos.
Mars Perseverance Sol 343 – Entrance Left Hazard Avoidance Digicam: A rock within the front left wheel of Perseverance on Sol 343, image become obtained on February 6, 2022 (Sol 343). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Right here is now now not the first time a rock has hitched a hump on a Mars rover mission. Some 18 years within the past, a “potato-sized” rock came upon its manner into the Spirit rover’s rear comely wheel, and needed to be dislodged. On the Curiosity rover, the front comely wheel has periodically picked up its contain traveling partner. Whereas it’s unclear exactly how prolonged these rocks caught spherical, they tended to hop off after a few weeks. Perseverance’s fresh partner is this capability that of this fact on its manner to environment Mars hitch-hiking info!
MSL Curiosity had a rock caught in its wheel in June 2017. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Perseverance’s pet rock has considered lots on its travels. Again on sol 341, we were mute in our Crater Floor Advertising and marketing and marketing campaign, where we examined rocks which would maybe also very nicely be segment of the “Máaz” formation, which we mediate is made up of lava flows. If this pet rock would maybe perchance more than seemingly deliver, it goes to also allege us about the modifications it’s observed as we traveled support north by the Octavia E. Butler touchdown space, after which west, passing the spectacular remains of the archaic extent of the delta, “Kodiak,” on our bolt to the western Jezero delta. We’re now within the Delta Entrance Advertising and marketing and marketing campaign, and we excellent abraded what can also very nicely be our first sedimentary rock. Perseverance’s pet rock is now a prolonged manner from dwelling.
Mars Perseverance Sol 413 – Entrance Left Hazard Avoidance Digicam: Perseverance’s pet rock has had some gargantuan views of Kodiak, a delta remnant, alongside its travels. Image taken the employ of the Entrance Left Haz Avoidance Digicam (Hazcam), obtained on April 19, 2022 (Sol 413). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Where can also this pet rock stay its bolt? It’s that you just’ll seemingly be ready to mediate that the rock can also simply tumble out one day alongside our future ascent of the crater rim. If it does so, this will land amongst rocks that we are looking ahead to to be very completely different from itself. As undoubtedly one of our team members quipped this week, “we can also confuse a future Mars geologist who finds it out of notify!”
So: for these that’re a Martian geologist from the future studying this, maybe a Martian graduate student tasked with mapping the historical space of Jezero crater: deliver imprint. Do you need to’ve came upon a rock that appears out of notify, you would possibly perchance more than seemingly more than seemingly also excellent be taking a explore on the archaic pet rock of Perseverance!
Written by Eleni Ravanis, Student Collaborator at University of Hawaiʻi at Manoa.