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NASA's Perseverance Amassing Achievements Rover Learns to Run to Commemorate First Year on Mars

As it nears the completion of the first of three planned science campaigns on Mars, the rover has piled up a slew of achievements, including new distance records.

Since touching down on Mars a year ago, on February 18, 2021, NASA's Perseverance rover has racked up a host of firsts, and the six-wheeled scientist has more in store as it travels toward its next destination and a new science mission.

On February 14, 2022, the 351st Martian day, or sol, of the mission, Perseverance set a new record for the longest distance traveled by a Mars rover in a single day, covering about 1,050 feet (320 meters). AutoNav, the self-driving software that allows Perseverance to navigate around rocks and other hazards, was used for the whole journey.

The rover is nearing the end of its first science campaign in Jezero Crater, which formerly held a lake and contains some of the oldest rocks that scientists have been able to examine up close on Mars. Search for indications of ancient microscopic life in rocks that have documented and preserved settings that once supported water.

Perseverance is snatching rock cores from the crater floor with a drill on the end of its robotic arm and a complicated sample collection device in its belly - the first phase in the Mars Sample Return campaign.

"The samples collected by Perseverance will offer a vital timeline for the creation of Jezero Crater," stated Thomas Zurbuchen of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. "Each one is weighed carefully for its scientific merit."

Counting the Eons is a process that involves counting the number of years that have passed

In the next weeks, two more samples will be taken from the "Ch'al" rock type (called after the Navajo word for "frog"), a group of dark, rubbly boulders that can be found across much of the crater floor. Scientists believe that if samples of these rocks are brought to Earth, they will be able to determine the date of Jezero's formation and the lake that once existed there.

Counting impact craters on the surface of a planet or moon can help scientists estimate its age. Impact craters of varied sizes have accumulated over time on older surfaces. Scientists were able to refine their estimates for the Moon by analyzing Apollo lunar samples. They've used what they've learned to reduce the age estimates for surfaces on Mars. However, having rock samples from Mars would boost crater-based estimates of the planet's age — and aid researchers in discovering additional pieces of the puzzle that is Mars' geological history.

"Right now, we're extrapolating what we know about the age of impact craters on the Moon to Mars," Katie Stack Morgan, Perseverance's deputy project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, said. "By bringing back a sample from Jezero's severely cratered surface, we could calibrate the Mars crater date system independently of the lunar one."

It hasn't been easy on the mission. The rover's initial effort at drilling a rock core failed, requiring a lengthy testing campaign to learn more about brittle rocks. Pebbles had fallen into the section of the sample system that contains the drill bits, so the team had to clear that out as well.

NASA's Ingenuity Mars Helicopter, Perseverance's flying counterpart, has shown comparable tenacity: it was grounded for nearly a month due to a dust storm before just restarting missions. The rotorcraft, which was supposed to fly five times, has now completed 19 flights, giving Perseverance's team a unique view on Martian topography and assisting them in planning their next steps.

The ruins of a fan-shaped delta produced by an old river as it fed the lake in Jezero Crater may be found to the west of "Octavia E. Butler Landing," where Perseverance began its trip. Deltas build up sediment over time, potentially trapping organic materials and other biosignatures (life signals) in the environment. As a result, this destination, which the mission plans to arrive at this summer, is a highlight.

Perseverance is a word that has a lot of different meanings.

Astrobiology, especially the search for traces of ancient microbial life, is a significant goal for Perseverance's mission on Mars. The rover will study the planet's geology and climate history, lay the route for human exploration of Mars, and be the first mission to gather and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Following NASA missions, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), spacecraft would be sent to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for further investigation.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA's Moon to Mars exploration strategy, which includes Artemis lunar missions to help prepare for human exploration of Mars.

JPL stands for Jet Propulsion Laboratory.