Perseverance Finds Popcorn on Planet Mars

After months of driving, Perseverance has finally arrived at ‘Bright Angel’, discovering oddly textured rock unlike any the rover has seen before. The team now plans to drive up the slope to uncover the origin of this rock sequence and its relationship to the margin unit.

Having completed a survey of the intriguing and diverse boulders at ‘Mount Washburn,’ the rover headed north, parking just in front of an exposure of layered light toned rock. This provided the team with our first close-up look of the rocks that make up the ‘Bright Angel’ exposure, so Perseverance stopped to acquire images, before driving west to a larger and more accessible outcrop where the rover will conduct detailed exploration.

Perseverance arrived at the base of this outcrop on sol 1175, and geologists on the science team were mesmerized by the strange textures of the light toned rocks found there. These rocks are filled with sharp ridges that resemble the mineral veins found at the base of the fan, but there appears to be more of them here. Additionally, some rocks are densely packed with small spheres, and we’ve jokingly referred to this as a ‘popcorn’-like texture. Together, these features suggest that groundwater flowed through these rocks after they were laid down. Next, Perseverance will gradually ascend up the rock exposure, taking measurements as it goes. Over the weekend, the abrasion tool will be used to take a close-up look and acquire detailed chemical information using the instruments on the rover’s arm. With this data in hand, the team will decide whether or not to sample. Once our exploration at ‘Bright Angel’ is complete, we will drive south back across Neretva Vallis and explore a site called ‘Serpentine Rapids’.

Written by Athanasios Klidaras, Ph.D. Student at Purdue University

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Sols 4216-4218: Another ‘Mammoth’ Plan!

Earth planning date: Friday, June 14, 2024

At the start of this week, we did a preload test on the target “Mammoth Lakes,” the rightmost bright ellipse (DRT ellipse, so less dusty) on the workspace image above. The preload test shows the stability of the rock, making sure it doesn’t move and that it doesn’t look like it will fracture under pressure from the drill. This is obviously a very important test! For example, if the rock fractured, the arm might slip down unexpectedly, so we really want to get that confirmation before we commit to drilling here. We also want to ensure the arm can adequately control the orientation of the drill as it makes progress into the rock. Unfortunately, as Conor reported on Wednesday, the preload test didn’t give us the information that we wanted to go ahead with full drill. However, this workspace (“Whitebark Pass”) is very intriguing, so the RPs found us a second spot (“Mammoth Lakes 2”), about 2.4 inches (6 centimeters) away from the original “Mammoth Lakes” to do a preload test. 

The GEO (Geology and Mineralogy) theme group took advantage of the extra time to further document the color variations and lithological types in this workspace. Mammoth Lakes is centered on the main slab, but the rim of the slab is darker in color. APXS and MAHLI will analyze along this rim at “Loch Leven” for comparison to the center of the slab (e.g., Mammoth Lakes, analyzed by APXS and ChemCam, and imaged by Mastcam and MAHLI on sol 4212) and the whiter, pitted float rocks along the edge of the slab (e.g., “Snow Lakes”, analyzed by APXS and ChemCam, and imaged by Mastcam and MAHLI on sol 4202). 

ChemCam will analyze the darker material, using LIBS on “Split Lake,” about 15.8 inches (40 centimeters) away from the Loch Leven target, and the underlying bedrock farther away from the rover at “Big Five Lakes.” They will also use ChemCam passive to look at “Grass Lake” – you can see the bright DRT ellipse for this target in the center of the workspace image above, as it was an APXS and MAHLI target on sol 4209. Both LIBS targets will be imaged by Mastcam. ChemCam will also take an RMI (Remote Micro Imager) 10×1 mosaic image (i.e., one row of 10 images) of a collection of loose rocks in the distance. 

The Mastcam team have a very busy plan. On the morning of the first sol (4217), Mastcam will take a large 19×5 mosaic of the Texoli butte, looking at the stratigraphy and erosional surfaces under morning illumination. 

Then it is taking advantage of the stop here at Whitebark Pass, with two larger experiments that need to run over several sols (days). The first is a series of change-detection images on the targets “Walker Lake” and “Finch Lake,” taken at different times over multiple sols to look for movement of sand grains, etc. The second is a photometry experiment – this involves taking multiple sets of observations at specific times of day (sunset and sunrise) at the same location in order to study surface scattering properties. 

Mastcam will also support the ENV (environmental) theme group today, taking a series of tau images to help constrain dust levels in the atmosphere. ENV have stuffed their section of the plan with dust devil scans and movies, and zenith (looking directly upwards) and suprahorizon (looking in a more horizontal direction) movies, in addition to regular DAN, RAD and REMS activities. APXS will also take an atmospheric measurement, overnight on the second sol, specifically to track seasonal argon changes.  

Written by Catherine O’Connell-Cooper, Planetary Geologist at University of New Brunswick

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NASA Awards Contract for Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory Operations

NASA has awarded a contract to Vertex Aerospace, LLC of Madison, Mississippi, for labor support to ensure continuing safe operations of the Sonny Carter Training Facility at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory Operations Contract II has a two-year base period that begins Oct. 1, followed by five option periods ranging from one to two years with a possible extension of services through 2034. The total potential value of the contract is $265.2 million. The contract includes a cost-plus-award-fee portion, which covers the core work of the contract, and an option to transition to cost-plus-fixed-fee and back again.

Under the contract, Vertex Aerospace will provide technical, managerial, and administrative work needed to ensure the reliability of integrated hardware and software systems used at the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory to prepare astronauts for human spaceflight missions.

The Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory is a unique facility that is available at all times for critical training and mission support operations, and is kept in a ready state to support the dynamic nature of human spaceflight. The laboratory features a 6.2-million-gallon pool, an essential tool for spacewalk training, simulates the weightlessness experienced by astronauts in space.

Learn more about NASA and agency programs at:

https://www.nasa.gov

-end-

Tiernan Doyle
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov

Chelsey Ballarte
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
Chelsey.n.ballarte@nasa.gov

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Tiernan P. Doyle