A Narrow Margin: In this Sol 915 (September 16, 2023) Navcam image, Perseverance looks down at the Amherst Point abrasion patch, catching the very first subsurface peek at a rock in the limited carbonate unit. Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechPerseverance starts the Margin Campaign on Mars, checking out the origins and significance of Jezero Craters limited carbonates over the next 230 sols.
This week on Mars, Perseverance formally started the Margin Campaign by getting to Mandu Wall and carrying out the very first abrasion of a rock within the minimal carbonate unit! Reaching this destination was no easy task– it took Perseverance several attempts to successfully browse a ~ 350 meter-long course through a field of boulders, using a combination of directed and self-governing drives to evade hazards in the rough terrain.
The lithological limit at Mandu Wall marks a crucial waypoint along the climb towards Jezero Craters rim, as it consists of an abundance of carbonate-bearing rocks hypothesized to have actually formed through precipitation, as an outcome of aqueous activity that controlled the once-watery Martian surface numerous billion years ago. Water-driven change of igneous minerals is another possible mechanism that might discuss the carbonates origin.
What is the relationship in between the marginal carbonates and the rocks that surround them? Could any of these carbonates include potential biosignatures or info about habitability? These are just a few of the scientific concerns encouraging the Margin Campaign.
What is the relationship between the marginal carbonates and the rocks that surround them? Could any of these carbonates consist of prospective biosignatures or info about habitability? These are just a few of the scientific concerns motivating the Margin Campaign.
This 4th section of the Mars 2020 mission is anticipated to take about 230 sols (days on Mars, comparable to about 8 Earth months) and will see Perseverance rove across the limited carbonates and approximately Jezero Craters rim, stopping to carry out remote and proximity science observations and drill approximately 4 cores along the way. Upon reaching the rim, Perseverance will transition to the “Inner Rim Campaign” focused on exploring this upper border around the edge of Jezero, before lastly continuing and exiting the crater on with the “Beyond Jezero Campaign.”
In the near term, distance science observations of the brand-new “Amherst Point” abrasion patch at Mandu Wall are prepared for the next couple of sols as the Margin Campaign marches on. When downlinked to Earth, this data collected by SHERLOC, PIXL, and SuperCam will assist the science team choose whether to drill here– or to look somewhere else and choose a different marginal carbonate target to sample for the very first core of the project!
Composed by Denise Buckner, Student Collaborator at the University of Florida.
