The weather at Jezero Crater is expected to be sunny with a high of about 7 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 14 degrees Celsius). In fact, when Perseverance marks its second landing anniversary, Mars will be 97 million miles (156 million kilometers) from Earth. “We have come a long way together, and I can’t think of a better group to work with as we go even farther.” “Behind each number is a lot of thought and effort from a very talented group of women and men on the Perseverance team,” said Art Thompson, Perseverance project manager at JPL. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona. An ellipse indicates where Perseverance touched down. 18, 2021, by the HiRISE camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. HiRISE Captured Perseverance During Descent to Mars: The descent stage holding NASAs Perseverance rover can be seen falling thorough the Martian atmosphere in this image taken on Feb. Entry, Descent, and Landing Cameras: 33,279.Sampling and Caching System Camera: 1,321.Here are the image tallies for several of them. Together, those cameras have taken more than 166,000 images. Perseverance packs seven science cameras along with nine engineering cameras. Distance the rover’s sample handling arm’s z-stage has traveled up and down: 676.1 feet (206.1 meters). Times drill bits have been exchanged: 48.Times the drill on that arm has touched Mars: 39.Times the rover’s main robotic arm has been unstowed and stowed: 64.Perseverance Mobility and Operational StatisticsĪlong with the massive drill-toting robotic arm, the rover has a small sample handling arm inside its belly. Laser shots by the SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals) instrument: 4,337,010.Hours the X-ray filament on the PIXL (Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry) instrument has operated: 298.2.Hours of Mars weather data recorded by MEDA (Mars Environmental Dynamics Analyzer): 15,769.1.Mars audio recordings taken by SuperCam’s microphone: 662.Soundings performed by the RIMFAX (Radar Imager for Mars’ Subsurface Experiment) ground-penetrating radar to study underground rock layers: 676,828.Laser shots fired by the SuperCam science instrument: 230,554.The rover carries seven science instruments, and they’ve been busy. Some will seem obscure, while others are more immediate, but they all underscore how productive the mission has been. With that, here are some the most up-to-date statistics regarding Perseverance’s first two Earth years of Jezero surface operations. “We collect them, evaluate them, compare them, and more times than we want to admit, bore our loved ones with them during a family dinner.” “We deal with a lot of numbers,” said Perseverance deputy project manager Steve Lee from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. They can tell you not only that the MOXIE (short for Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment) technology demonstration has produced 3.25 ounces (92.11 grams) of oxygen, but also that the Gas Dust Removal Tool (gDRT) – the little gas-puffing device on the robotic arm – has puffed 62 times to clear residual dust and particles from rock-abrading activities. 14, its left front wheel has performed 9,423 revolutions. Numbers play a big role in the life of a Mars rover mission, not just because the team includes an impressive quantity of scientists (who don’t usually mind numbers) and engineers (who love them), but because statistics provide the best and most efficient glimpse of vehicle trends and performance.įor instance, the mission can tell you not only that the rover has driven 9.3 miles (14.97 kilometers), but also that as of Feb. (Learn more about all 18 samples taken so far.) In addition to the rock cores, Perseverance has collected two regolith samples and one atmospheric sample, and it has sealed three “witness” tubes. 15, we expect to be adding to that tally very soon.” With the start of the next science campaign, known as ‘Upper Fan,’ on Feb. “Perseverance has inspected and performed data collection on hundreds of intriguing geologic features, collected 15 rock cores, and created the first sample depot on another world. “Anniversaries are a time of reflection and celebration, and the Perseverance team is doing a lot of both,” said Perseverance project scientist Ken Farley of Caltech in Pasadena.
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