After three and a half years of exploring the Jezero crater bed, north of the Martian equator, NASA’s Perseverance rover has embarked on one of the most challenging journeys of its mission.
Climbing the crater rim. This week, Perseverance began to climb up the rim of Jezero Crater, where it has been since landing on Mars on Feb. 18, 2021.
The climb, which will take about a month, features a drop of about 1,000 feet and slopes of up to 23 degrees, which NASA describes as “some of the steepest and most challenging terrain” the rover has ever faced.
What’s the point? Images taken by spacecraft orbiting the red planet show a series of fractures in a region at the top of the crater known as Turquoise Peak. NASA believes it may be the result of ancient hydrothermal activity.
If Perseverance confirms this theory, it will provide crucial evidence that Mars was a dynamic planet billions of years ago, with conditions that may have been suitable for life.
Perseverance’s latest discovery. Before climbing, Perseverance found a rock with specific markings associated with fossilized microbial activity on Earth.
In addition to Turquoise Peak, Perseverance will explore another area at the top of the crater, nicknamed Witch Hazel Hill, where NASA has identified layers of material with chemical signatures from the same period as the rock.
Fifth science campaign. Since landing on Mars, Perseverance has traveled more than 18 miles and collected more than 20 rock cores, most of which the rover deposited in tubes on the surface for a future sample retrieval mission.
The climb to the rim of Jezero Crater marks the mission’s fifth science campaign. While it has found several clues that Mars was once a water-filled world, the rover has yet to detect water ice or signs of past microbial life.
This article was written by Matías S. Zavia and originally published in Spanish on Xataka.
Image | NASA-JPL
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