Animation of the Perseverance Rover driving onMars NASA/JPL-Caltech
Perseverance remains in a drive project going much faster than any previous rover. How quick, you may ask? Its real speed is simply under a tenth of a mile per hour, however it’s faster than its predecessors.
It is making relatively fast development by dedicating numerous hours each day to driving on really smooth surface. That has actually permitted Perseverance to break previous rovers’ records for the range took a trip in one day, now standing at 319.8 m, the range it took a trip on Sol 351.
Curiosity made a variety of drives over 100 meters, however none over 200 meters. That was due in part to rockier surface.
Like Perseverance, Opportunity, which landed method back in 2004, had some really smooth spots of surface, permitting it to take a trip as much as 228 meters in one day utilizing solar energy simply a year after its landing.
Mars Perseverance Sol 388– Right Navigation Camera: Image gotten on March 24, 2022 (Sol 388) at the regional mean solar time of 15: 50: 05 by the Right Navigation Camera (Navcam), revealing the back of the rover and its wheel tracks. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Overall, it’s not simply the single-day drive that matters; it is harder to create a constant project. That needs adequate energy, adequate time in the day, and enough information volume to Earth to support next-day drive choices. Perseverance appears to have all of that, permitting our group to create a continual project that has actually fulfilled and surpassed expectations. In one week it has actually taken a trip about 1.5 km, successfully a rate of one mile weekly. As of Friday, March 25, 2022, which was Sol 389, Perseverance had actually driven an overall of 6.6 km (4.1 miles). You can see the development of Perseverance here.
I need to confess that I was far more downhearted. Over the years I have actually seen lots of unanticipated scenarios that bedeviled planetary rovers, so I tend to anticipate the unanticipated, having a “wait-and-see” mindset towards brand-new accomplishments. So I am really thrilled to see Perseverance manage this fast drive project. In regards to total range, Perseverance has a lot left if it wishes to overtake Opportunity (45 km) or Curiosity (over 27 km). I think Perseverance will ultimately exceed these other rovers, however we’ll need to wait and see.
Not to be missed out on, Perseverance’s brave buddy, Ingenuity’s longest single-day flight (# 9) was 625 m, logged back in July2021 That has to do with two times as far in one day as the rover has actually gone. Ingenuity’s flight log, revealing all of its journeys, is here. Ingenuity is presently heading northwest throughout Seitah, intending to rendezvous with Perseverance near the de
Written by Roger Wiens, Principal Investigator, SuperCam/ Co-Investigator, SHERLOC instrument at LANL
