5 min read<\/p>\n
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Mars](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1-pia26335-looking-down-channel-enchanced-web.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nPerseverance captured this mosaic looking downstream of the dune-filled Neretva Vallis river channel on May 17. The channel fed Jezero Crater with fresh water billions of years ago.<\/div>\nNASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU\/MSSS<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nOriginally thought of as little more than a route clear of rover-slowing boulders, Neretva Vallis has provided a bounty of geologic options for the science team. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\nAfter detouring through a dune field to avoid wheel-rattling boulders, NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover reached its latest area of scientific interest on June 9. The route change not only shortened the estimated drive time to reach that area \u2014 nicknamed \u201cBright Angel\u201d \u2014 by several weeks, but also gave the science team an opportunity to find exciting geologic features in an ancient river channel.<\/p>\n
Perseverance is in the later stages of its fourth science campaign<\/a>, looking for evidence of carbonate and olivine deposits in the \u201cMargin Unit,\u201d an area along the inside of Jezero Crater<\/a>\u2019s rim. Located at the base of the northern channel wall, Bright Angel features rocky light-toned outcrops that may represent either ancient rock exposed by river erosion or sediments that filled the channel. The team hopes to find rocks different from those in the carbonate-and-olivine-rich Margin Unit and gather more clues about Jezero\u2019s history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Stitched](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/e1-pia26333-enhanced-color-mt-washburn-web.jpg?w=2048\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nStitched together from 18 images taken by NASA\u2019s Perseverance rover, this mosaic shows a boulder field on \u201cMount Washburn\u201d on May 27. Intrigued by the diversity of textures and chemical composition in the light-toned boulder at center, the rover\u2019s science team nicknamed the rock \u201cAtoko Point.\u201d<\/div>\nNASA\/JPL-Caltech\/ASU\/MSSS<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nTo get to Bright Angel, the rover drove on a ridge along the Neretva Vallis river channel, which billions of years ago carried a large amount of the water that flowed into Jezero Crater. \u201cWe started paralleling the channel in late January and were making pretty good progress, but then the boulders became bigger and more numerous,\u201d said Evan Graser, Perseverance\u2019s deputy strategic route planner lead at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cWhat had been drives averaging over a hundred meters per Martian day went down to only tens of meters. It was frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n
Channel Surfing<\/strong><\/h3>\nIn rough terrain, Evan and his team use rover imagery to plan drives of about 100 feet (30 meters) at a time. To go farther on any given Martian day, or sol, planners rely on Perseverance\u2019s auto-navigation, or AutoNav<\/a>, system to take over. But as the rocks became more plentiful, AutoNav would, more times than not, determine the going was not to its liking and stop, dimming the prospects of a timely arrival at Bright Angel. The team held out hope, however, knowing they might find success cutting across a quarter-mile (400-meter) dune field in the river channel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Image](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/2-pia26336-navcam-bright-angel-.png?w=2048\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nNASA\u2019s Perseverance rover was traveling in the ancient Neretva Vallis river channel when it captured this view of an area of scientific interest named \u201cBright Angel\u201d \u2014 the light-toned area in the distance at right \u2014 with one of its navigation cameras on June 6.<\/div>\nNASA\/JPL-Caltech<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cWe had been eyeing the river channel just to the north as we went, hoping to find a section where the dunes were small and far enough apart for a rover to pass between \u2014 because dunes have been known to eat Mars rovers<\/a>,\u201d said Graser. \u201cPerseverance also needed an entrance ramp we could safely travel down. When the imagery showed both, we made a beeline for it.\u201d<\/p>\nThe Perseverance science team was also eager to travel through the ancient river channel because they wanted to investigate ancient Martian river processes.<\/p>\n
Rock Star<\/strong><\/h3>\nWith AutoNav helping guide the way on the channel floor, Perseverance covered the 656 feet (200 meters) to the first science stop in one sol. The target: \u201cMount Washburn,\u201d a hill covered with intriguing boulders, some of a type never observed before on Mars.<\/p>\n
\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/e3-pia26334-rover-path-map.jpg?w=1627\")
<\/a><\/figure>\nSuperimposed on an image from NASA\u2019s Mars Odyssey orbiter, this map shows Perseverance\u2019s path between Jan. 21 and June 11. White dots indicate where the rover stopped after completing a traverse beside Neretva Vallis river channel. The pale blue line indicates the rover\u2019s route inside the channel.<\/div>\nNASA\/JPL-Caltech\/University of Arizona<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cThe diversity of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a grab bag of geologic gifts brought down from the crater rim and potentially beyond,\u201d said Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University in Bellingham, the co-lead of the current science campaign.\u201cBut among all these different rocks, there was one that really caught our attention.\u201d They nicknamed it \u201cAtoko Point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some 18 inches (45 centimeters) wide and 14 inches (35 centimeters) tall, the speckled, light-toned boulder stands out in a field of darker ones. Analysis by Perseverance\u2019s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments indicates that the rock is composed of the minerals pyroxene and feldspar. In terms of the size, shape, and arrangement of its mineral grains and crystals \u2014 and potentially its chemical composition \u2014 Atoko Point it is in a league of its own.<\/p>\n
Some Perseverance scientists speculate the minerals that make up Atoko Point were produced in a subsurface body of magma that is possibly exposed now on the crater rim. Others on the team wonder if the boulder had been created far beyond the walls of Jezero and transported there by the swift Martian waters eons ago. Either way, the team believes that while Atoko is the first of its kind they\u2019ve seen, it won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n
After leaving Mount Washburn, the rover headed 433 feet (132 meters) north to investigate the geology of \u201cTuff Cliff\u201d before making the four-sol, 1,985-foot (605-meter) journey to Bright Angel. Perseverance is currently\u00a0analyzing\u00a0a rocky outcrop to assess whether a rock core sample should be collected.<\/p>\n
More About the Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\nA key objective for Perseverance\u2019s mission on Mars is astrobiology<\/a>, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet\u2019s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.<\/p>\nSubsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.<\/p>\n
The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA\u2019s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis<\/a> missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.<\/p>\nNASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.<\/p>\n
For more about Perseverance:<\/p>\n
https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/mars2020\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\nNews Media Contacts<\/strong><\/h3>\nDC Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\nKaren Fox \/ Charles Blue
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 \/ 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ charles.e.blue@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n2024-084<\/p>\n
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![\"Mars](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/1-pia26335-looking-down-channel-enchanced-web.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>Originally thought of as little more than a route clear of rover-slowing boulders, Neretva Vallis has provided a bounty of geologic options for the science team. \u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n After detouring through a dune field to avoid wheel-rattling boulders, NASA\u2019s Perseverance Mars rover reached its latest area of scientific interest on June 9. The route change not only shortened the estimated drive time to reach that area \u2014 nicknamed \u201cBright Angel\u201d \u2014 by several weeks, but also gave the science team an opportunity to find exciting geologic features in an ancient river channel.<\/p>\n Perseverance is in the later stages of its fourth science campaign<\/a>, looking for evidence of carbonate and olivine deposits in the \u201cMargin Unit,\u201d an area along the inside of Jezero Crater<\/a>\u2019s rim. Located at the base of the northern channel wall, Bright Angel features rocky light-toned outcrops that may represent either ancient rock exposed by river erosion or sediments that filled the channel. The team hopes to find rocks different from those in the carbonate-and-olivine-rich Margin Unit and gather more clues about Jezero\u2019s history.<\/p>\n To get to Bright Angel, the rover drove on a ridge along the Neretva Vallis river channel, which billions of years ago carried a large amount of the water that flowed into Jezero Crater. \u201cWe started paralleling the channel in late January and were making pretty good progress, but then the boulders became bigger and more numerous,\u201d said Evan Graser, Perseverance\u2019s deputy strategic route planner lead at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. \u201cWhat had been drives averaging over a hundred meters per Martian day went down to only tens of meters. It was frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n In rough terrain, Evan and his team use rover imagery to plan drives of about 100 feet (30 meters) at a time. To go farther on any given Martian day, or sol, planners rely on Perseverance\u2019s auto-navigation, or AutoNav<\/a>, system to take over. But as the rocks became more plentiful, AutoNav would, more times than not, determine the going was not to its liking and stop, dimming the prospects of a timely arrival at Bright Angel. The team held out hope, however, knowing they might find success cutting across a quarter-mile (400-meter) dune field in the river channel.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had been eyeing the river channel just to the north as we went, hoping to find a section where the dunes were small and far enough apart for a rover to pass between \u2014 because dunes have been known to eat Mars rovers<\/a>,\u201d said Graser. \u201cPerseverance also needed an entrance ramp we could safely travel down. When the imagery showed both, we made a beeline for it.\u201d<\/p>\n The Perseverance science team was also eager to travel through the ancient river channel because they wanted to investigate ancient Martian river processes.<\/p>\n With AutoNav helping guide the way on the channel floor, Perseverance covered the 656 feet (200 meters) to the first science stop in one sol. The target: \u201cMount Washburn,\u201d a hill covered with intriguing boulders, some of a type never observed before on Mars.<\/p>\n \u201cThe diversity of textures and compositions at Mount Washburn was an exciting discovery for the team, as these rocks represent a grab bag of geologic gifts brought down from the crater rim and potentially beyond,\u201d said Brad Garczynski of Western Washington University in Bellingham, the co-lead of the current science campaign.\u201cBut among all these different rocks, there was one that really caught our attention.\u201d They nicknamed it \u201cAtoko Point.\u201d<\/p>\n Some 18 inches (45 centimeters) wide and 14 inches (35 centimeters) tall, the speckled, light-toned boulder stands out in a field of darker ones. Analysis by Perseverance\u2019s SuperCam and Mastcam-Z instruments indicates that the rock is composed of the minerals pyroxene and feldspar. In terms of the size, shape, and arrangement of its mineral grains and crystals \u2014 and potentially its chemical composition \u2014 Atoko Point it is in a league of its own.<\/p>\n Some Perseverance scientists speculate the minerals that make up Atoko Point were produced in a subsurface body of magma that is possibly exposed now on the crater rim. Others on the team wonder if the boulder had been created far beyond the walls of Jezero and transported there by the swift Martian waters eons ago. Either way, the team believes that while Atoko is the first of its kind they\u2019ve seen, it won\u2019t be the last.<\/p>\n After leaving Mount Washburn, the rover headed 433 feet (132 meters) north to investigate the geology of \u201cTuff Cliff\u201d before making the four-sol, 1,985-foot (605-meter) journey to Bright Angel. Perseverance is currently\u00a0analyzing\u00a0a rocky outcrop to assess whether a rock core sample should be collected.<\/p>\n A key objective for Perseverance\u2019s mission on Mars is astrobiology<\/a>, including caching samples that may contain signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet\u2019s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith.<\/p>\n Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.<\/p>\n The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA\u2019s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis<\/a> missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.<\/p>\n NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managed for the agency by Caltech, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.<\/p>\n For more about Perseverance:<\/p>\n https:\/\/mars.nasa.gov\/mars2020\/<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n DC Agle Karen Fox \/ Charles Blue 2024-084<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure>Channel Surfing<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/figure>Rock Star<\/strong><\/h3>\n
<\/a><\/figure>More About the Mission<\/strong><\/h3>\n
News Media Contacts<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-9011
agle@jpl.nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
301-286-6284 \/ 202-802-5345
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov<\/a> \/ charles.e.blue@nasa.gov<\/a><\/p>\nShare<\/h2>\n<\/p><\/div>\n