{"id":595679,"date":"2023-01-09T05:49:06","date_gmt":"2023-01-09T11:49:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.sellorbuyhomefast.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/09\/perseverance-rover-celebrates-its-first-martian-birthday\/"},"modified":"2023-01-09T05:49:06","modified_gmt":"2023-01-09T11:49:06","slug":"perseverance-rover-celebrates-its-first-martian-birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2023\/01\/09\/perseverance-rover-celebrates-its-first-martian-birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"Perseverance rover celebrates its first Martian birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The Perseverance rover currently exploring Mars recently celebrated a milestone: its first Martian year since landing. Though the rover landed in the Jezero Crater in February 2021, making it almost two Earth years old, NASA measures its Mars missions in Martian years. As Mars orbits further from the sun than the Earth does, it has longer years, at 687 days, so the rover hit its first Martian birthday this week on January 6.<\/p>\n

The end of Perseverance\u2019s first Martian year also marks the end of its primary mission, as the rover was designed to operate for one Martian year minimum. But the rover is still healthy and going strong, so it immediately began its extended mission in which it will continue to explore the crater for evidence of ancient life and to collect samples of Martian rock and regolith.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Perseverance Mars rover took this selfie on Sept. 10, 2021 \u2014 sol 198 of the mission \u2013 in Jezero Crater after coring into a rock called \u2018Rochette.\u2019 Rock core samples from the floor of the crater will be brought back to Earth and analyzed to characterize the planet\u2019s geology and past climate.<\/span> NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU\/Malin Space Science Systems<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The rover recently started creating a sample cache on Mars<\/a>, where samples will be left for the future Mars Sample Return mission to collect and bring back to Earth. It will continue to work on this project as its new extended mission begins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will still be working the sample depot deployment when our extended mission begins on January 7, so nothing changes from that perspective,\u201d said Art Thompson, Perseverance\u2019s project manager at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explained at the end of last year in a statement<\/a>. \u201cHowever, once the table is set at Three Forks, we\u2019ll head to the top of the delta. The science team wants to take a good look around up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The delta Thompson is referring to is the site of an ancient river delta<\/a>, which is an exciting target for exploration because it could hold clues<\/a> to whether microbial life ever existed on Mars. To get to the delta, the rover needs to travel up a steep embankment, and it should reach the top of the delta ready to start exploring sometime next month. It will then spend eight months exploring the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Delta Top Campaign is our opportunity to get a glimpse at the geological process beyond the walls of Jezero Crater,\u201d said JPL\u2019s Katie Stack Morgan, deputy project scientist for Perseverance. \u201cBillions of years ago a raging river carried debris and boulders from miles beyond the walls of Jezero. We are going to explore these ancient river deposits and obtain samples from their long-traveled boulders and rocks.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\tToday’s tech news, curated and condensed for your inbox\t\t<\/p>\n

\n

<\/i>
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\tCheck your inbox!\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tPlease provide a valid email address to continue.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThis email address is currently on file. If you are not receiving newsletters, please check your spam folder.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSorry, an error occurred during subscription. Please try again later.\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tEditors’ Recommendations<\/h4>\n