By Vivian Sun, NASA/JPL
February 12, 2022
3 abrasions and four sample cores later on, the rover has finally left the Séítah location and is embarking on the return leg of the crater flooring project. As we drove towards Séítah earlier in the mission, our typical daily drive distance was shorter, in part because we were doing scientific reconnaissance at crucial stops along the way, and in part because we were still learning how to optimize drive performance with our rover.
Given that leaving Séítah a few days earlier, Perseverance has actually currently logged 2 massive, record-setting 240+ meter drives on sols 340 and 341. These drives set the record for the longest single-sol total range taped by any martian rover (243.3 m) and the single-sol Autonav record by any martian rover (226.5 m). If this suggests future drives to come, well be zooming through the rest of the crater flooring project to the delta in no time.
Mars Perseverance Sol 345– Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera: NASAs Mars Perseverance rover acquired this picture of the location in front of it utilizing its onboard Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A. This image reveals the rover arm reaching out over the Rimplas outcrop, taken from our present area. The rubbly layers towards the bottom of this outcrop will be the focus of abrasion and distance science with PIXL, SHERLOC, and WATSON over the next few sols. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
So where are we today? We are presently in front of an outcrop called “Rimplas,” for a fast abrasion and proximity science rest stop on our way back (a future stop will be to get our last samples from the crater flooring– stay tuned for a future post!). This area is close to where Perseverance was on sol 177 practically 170 sols back, near the Artuby outcrop where we saw appealing layered rocks. We now comprehend these layered rocks to be part of the Artuby “member” (a group of rocks with typical qualities) that underlie the Rochette caprock member which was sampled in our very first rock cores. These enigmatic layers have actually not yet been abraded and studied in detail with the PIXL, SHERLOC, and WATSON instruments, hence our current stop at the layered rocks at Rimplas. Heres to hoping that well have our 6th abrasion spot later this week!
Written by Vivian Sun, Science Operations Systems Engineer, Staff Scientist at NASA/JPL
As we drove towards Séítah previously in the objective, our average everyday drive distance was much shorter, in part since we were doing scientific reconnaissance at essential stops along the method, and in part because we were still finding out how to make the most of drive efficiency with our rover. These drives set the record for the longest single-sol overall distance taped by any martian rover (243.3 m) and the single-sol Autonav record by any martian rover (226.5 m). Mars Perseverance Sol 345– Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera: NASAs Mars Perseverance rover obtained this image of the location in front of it utilizing its onboard Front Left Hazard Avoidance Camera A.