Update on NASA’s Perseverance Rover & Curiosity Rover [Video]

0
422
NASA's Mars 2020 Rover Studying Its Surroundings

Revealed: The Secrets our Clients Used to Earn $3 Billion

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

NASA’s Perseverance rover has actually been on the surface area of Mars considering that February of 2021, signing up with NASA’s Curiosity rover, which has actually been studying the Red Planet considering that 2012.

Perseverance is now starting to increase its science objective on Mars while preparing to gather samples that will be gone back to Earth on a future objective. Curiosity is prepared to check out some brand-new Martian surface.

This video offers an objective upgrade from Perseverance Surface Mission Manager Jessica Samuels and Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Abigail Fraeman.

Video Transcript:

RECORDS

Raquel Villanueva: To get the current updates on the rovers, we are signed up with by Perseverance Surface Mission Manager, Jessica Samuels, and Curiosity Deputy Project Scientist Abigail Fraeman. Now Jessica, Perseverance has actually invested the last month supporting resourcefulness helicopter operations. But now it’s moving into a brand-new stage. Can you inform us about that?

Jessica Samuels: Right. So with this current 5th helicopter flight we’re transitioning from the innovation presentation stage to more of an operations presentation stage as we now turn our attention more towards the robotic arm science-based part of the objective, and as we get ready for the sample acquisition stage of the task. This previous week, we finished our very first close-up robotic arm science target observation by the Sherlock Instrument.

And as you can see here, the Watson side of that instrument was put at various positions getting closer and closer and closer to the surface area and completing at a simple 3.7 millimeters from the surface area.

Raquel Villanueva: And Perseverance is preparing to gather samples from Mars to remind earth.
How are those preparations going?

Jessica Samuels: Right, well, in order to guarantee that we are prepared for this very first one of a kind leg of gathering samples and preparing them to bring them back to earth we require to guarantee that we can securely put and pack the robotic arm on the surface area of Mars. So we initially did this by packing the core drill and pressing versus the Rover itself.

As you can see here in this image.
The next day we effectively showed the ability of positioning the core on the surface area of Mars.

Raquel Villanueva: And determination has actually been on the relocation. How far has actually the Rover driven?

Jessica Samuels: Perseverance has driven 345 meters up until now. Over the next number of weeks. We intend to continue to take a look at more of our self-governing navigation abilities and are thrilled about the hundreds and numerous meters ahead.

Raquel Villanueva: Thank you for that upgrade, Jessica. Now we’ll rely on Abigail.

Perseverance is the brand-new Rover in the area however Curiosity is still doing science in Gale crater.

What are a few of the huge stories originating from Curiosity and your group?

Abigail Fraeman: Well, Curiosity, we’re continuing to climb up Mount Sharp. We simply concluded our expedition of the Glen Torridon area. And we’re now on the hunt for the zone where we understand the rocks will shift from being these clay abundant rocks that formed in ancient lakes, to salted rocks filled with a mineral called sulfate.

We started our hunt for this clay sulfate shift at an area we informally called, “Mont Mercou” and we parked at the base of Mont Mercou where disintegration has actually removed and made this huge 20 foot high cliff.

And so we drilled the base of this cliff. We took a selfie and we took numerous pictures of the numerous great layers that we see exposed in the side of the cliff. And by evaluating these layers we’re going to comprehend more about the geologic procedures that have actually formed the location.

Raquel Villanueva:  What is next for Curiosity?

Abigail Fraeman: Well after doing a lot of science at the base of Mount Mercou, we reversed and we rose to the leading where we took a definitely incredible 360 degree color panorama of our view.

And I like this image due to the fact that if you look off to one side you can see the flooring of Gale crater where interest landed. We’ve considering that climbed up over 1300 feet to get to where we are now on the side of the mound. And if you look off to the opposite you can see the surface even more ahead.

Those are the hills where we understand the sulfate minerals will be from our orbital information.

And so that is where we’re headed.

Raquel Villanueva: Thanks for the upgrade, Abigail and take a much deeper dive on the objective sites mars.nasa.gov/determination and go to mars.nasa.gov/msl for the Curiosity rover, and follow @NASAPersevere and @MarsCuriosity on social networks.