The Perseverance rover is on its way to a new location to collect first samples to be returned to Earth. The SUV-sized rover drives to the new location days after the unsuccessful first attempt to conquer Martian soil.
NASA blamed the unusually soft rock for the sampling fiasco The rock is not strong enough to produce a core sample, and the small, powdery fragments stay in the borehole or end up in the cuttings – or both. The engineers had drilled to the correct depth of almost three inches, and the pictures of the borehole looked fine.
The team has now said the rover is headed for some layered rocks that it spotted from a distance a few weeks ago.
“I can already see the landscape changing around me. It will be interesting to see what clues this next spot contains“Said the rover in a tweet. The images of the rover and its companion Ingenuity show that the sedimentary rock there should be much better suited for sampling, Louise Jandura, chief engineer for Perseverance’s sampling campaign, had previously said.
“The hardware worked as directed, but the rock didn’t cooperate this time,” Jandura wrote in an online update. NASA plans to collect about 35 samples to be returned by future spacecraft in a decade.
The flight plan for the 12th flight on Mars. (Photo: JPL)
Ingenuity prepares for the 12th flight to Mars
The Ingenuity helicopter that recently caught the Perseverance rover in the vastness of the Jazero crater from the air, is ready for its 12th flight on an alien planet.
The flight, which marks the 174th Sol (Martian day) for the quadrocopter, will advance it into the geologically fascinating region “South Séítah”.
“This latest attempt will be similar to Flight 10, where we did some location work for the Perseverance team on a surface feature called Raised Ridges. But Flight 12 has the potential to produce more impactful results. Thanks to his newly activated AutoNav ability, Perseverance moves quickly northwest across the southern ridge of Séítah (white trail) and will hit Ingenuity in the days to come. Therefore, the timing of Ingenuity’s Flight 12 is critical, “said the Joint Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which the plane flies on Mars, said in a statement.
During the flight, Ingenuity rises to a height of 10 meters and fly approximately 235 meters east-northeast towards the area of interest in Séítah. Once there, the helicopter takes a 5-meter “side step” in order to receive side-by-side images of the surface area that are suitable for creating a stereo or 3D image. Then, while the camera is held in the same direction, Ingenuity will retract and return to the same area from which it was started.
The engineers want to take 10 color pictures of the region to support the rover in its future mission.
Ingenuity has logged 19 minutes and approximately 1.2 nautical miles in the Martian sky so far.
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