Perseverance rover has spent the past week ascending the steep Jezero crater rim, navigating through Mars’ tricky terrain.
The rover is on its way to Pico Turquino via Summerland Trail, conducting scientific observations of the terrain and celestial phenomena, such as Phobos’ solar transit.
Mars Rover’s Challenging Ascent
Over the past week, Perseverance has been steadily climbing the rim of Jezero Crater. The steep terrain, made up of loose Martian soil known as regolith, makes the ascent challenging, as the rover’s wheels can slip on the steepest sections. It’s like trying to run up a sand dune—each step forward is met with a bit of a slide backward. To handle this tricky terrain, the Science and Engineering teams work closely to plan slow, careful drives.
Navigating the Summerland Trail
As Perseverance moves through the Mount Ranier quadrangle, the team found a relatively clear path to the crater rim, which they named Summerland Trail, after a very popular hiking trail up Mount Rainier. The rover is now making its way toward its next target, an outcrop of rocks called Pico Turquino, where the science team plans to conduct detailed studies using the PIXL instrument and the newly reactivated SHERLOC.
Scientific Endeavors Along the Way
While roving along Summerland Trail, Perseverance is constantly observing the surrounding terrain. SuperCam and Mastcam-Z have been observing rocks on the ground and on a distant hill, called Crystal Creek. In addition, during this time Perseverance can put its eyes to the sky to make observations of the sun and atmosphere. Last week, the Mastcam-Z camera captured images of Phobos (one of Mars’ two moons) transiting in front of the sun!
Focus on Documenting Mars
While the Mars2020 team is itching to reach the ancient stratigraphy exposed in the crater rim, for now, the focus is on documenting our surroundings while navigating the ascent.
Written by Eleanor Moreland, Ph.D. Student Collaborator at Rice University